A baby panda born in Malaysia's National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur made her fluffy debut on Saturday.

The four-month-old female cub, who has not yet been named, slowly crawled towards the group of photographers and reporters watching her behind a glass shield in the zoo's air-conditioned panda enclosure.

Most of the time, however, the baby panda was content to lie on her belly.

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There will be an online competition to name the four-month-old cub

"The cub weighs nine kilograms (20 pounds). She is so cute. Her growth is quite fast and she is already able to move slowly," Mat Naim Ramli, director of the National Zoo's panda center, told reporters.

He added that the baby, mother and father are all in good health.

Chinese Ambassador Bai Tian said it was good to see that the cub was "comfortable and happy." He added that there would be an online competition to name the new baby panda.

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Although one day she'll grow to love bamboo, this little cub is strictly on a diet of her mother's milk

Natural reproduction success

The cub is the second offspring of panda parents Liang Liang and Xing Xing — both are on a 10-year loan to Malaysia by China and have been in the zoo since 2014.

The baby's birth is a rare success story in the difficult field of natural reproduction among giant pandas in captivity, who are known for being rarely in the mood to mate and are often clumsy during the act.

When this cub is 2 years old, she'll return to China, like her sister

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The cub's sister Nuan Nuan was also a product of natural reproduction. She was born in August 2015 but was sent back to China last November as part of a deal to return panda cubs that were born in captivity once they reach 2 years of age.

Mat Naim said the success of having two cubs born at the Malaysian zoo's panda center was helped by having a healthy pair of pandas that "are able to accept each other".

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are only 1,864 giant pandas left in the wild. They tend to live in bamboo forests located in the mountains of western China.

Bears in peril The bears Bears: They can walk upright, see in color — unlike most other mammals — and most are ominivores like us. Yes, we are distantly related to bears — bears and humans share a common, rat-like ancestor from about 100 million years ago. The American black bear, pictured here, ranges across North America and is an excellent tree climber. Black bears can also be cinnamon or even platinum in color.

Bears in peril Brown bear Brown bears, or Ursus arctos, are the most widely distributed bear in the world, ranging across Eurasia and North America. These bears tend to be solitary, but sometimes congregate to feast on fish. Ahead of hibernation, brown bears gorge themselves on fat to prepare for winter. Brown bears living inland in the lower 48 US states are known as grizzly bears — an iconic symbol of wilderness.

Bears in peril Awoken early Although brown bears have been hunted to extinction in portions of their native habitat, they continue to survive in Europe in isolated pockets. Above, a mother bear watches over her cub as it struggles through thick snow in Finland. Bears' summer feasting creates a thick layer of fat they survive off in winter, typically in hibernation. But changing weather is also altering hibernation patterns.

Bears in peril Lend a hand In addition to being able to walk upright, brown bears can also run very quickly on all fours — up to 30 miles per hour (64 kph). This helps them hunt down other animals to eat. The anatomy of bear paws is so remarkably similar to that of human hands and feet that skeletal remains, and footprints, are often mixed up. Above, a brown bear gets a tooth operation in Germany.

Bears in peril Andean bear South America even gets its "own" bear: the spectacled or Andean bear. Per its name, the species often sports light-colored fur around its eyes. The IUCN classifies this species as "vulnerable" — the bear has lost its wooded habitat on the slopes of the Andes due largely to forest-clearing for crops and cattle farming.

Bears in peril The sun ... Sun bears, or Malayan sun bears, have a bib-shaped golden patch on their chests, which for some cultures represents the rising sun. Indeed, the sun bear lives in the Far East, making its home in tropical forests of southern Asia. The IUCN classifies sun bears as "vulnerable" — it's among the rarest bear species, and is under threat due to habitat loss, the pet trade and hunting for "medicine."

Bears in peril ... and the moon Moon bears, also known as Asiatic black bears, are likewise threatened due largely to poaching. Demand for bile from the gall bladders of black bears is driving widespread hunting, capture, captivity and trade — moon bears are even kept on mostly illegal "bile farms." Although there is no scientifically proven human health benefit from consuming bear bile, the trade continues.

Bears in peril Sloth bear The sloth bear is also "vulnerable," as its lowland forest in the Indian subcontinent disappears. Sloth bears survive on insects and have particularly shaggy fur — they are also targets for poaching and the pet trade. Pictured above, "Buddu" the sloth bear was adopted by a family in India after wandering into the village after a herd of goats. Wildlife officials later rescued the bear.

Bears in peril Little giants We all know and love pandas — panda cubs are particularly cute. Giant pandas were upgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable" in 2016 due to vigorous efforts by the Chinese government to preserve the iconic animal. Such efforts include a captive breeding program, which achieved record success in 2017 with 42 pandas born.

Bears in peril Beloved bear Like many other bears, pandas are threatened above all from loss of habitat. Infrastructure projects in particular are cutting into what's left of the cool, humid bamboo forest high in the mountains of western China where pandas make their home. Since bamboo is so nutritionally poor, the bears have to eat up to 84 pounds (38 kilograms) per day — giant pandas spend much of their waking time eating.

Bears in peril Polar bear Last but not least ... another icon. Technically classified as a marine mammal, polar bears are carnivorous. For hunting seals and other ocean animals, polar bears rely on sea ice, which is declining as the Arctic melts due to climate change. The plight of the polar bear has become synonymous with the fight against global warming. As the planet heats up, time is running out for these bears. Author: Sonya Angelica Diehn



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