First captive panda cub of the year born in China

CHENGDU - A captive-bred giant panda gave birth to the first cub of the year in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, local authorities said Thursday.

It is the world's first captive-bred panda cub born in 2019.

The female cub, weighing 166.8 grams, was born on Wednesday at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the base said.

The delivery was smooth. The newly-born panda cried loudly, while the mother Ji Li properly fed her baby, according to the base.

It was the second birth for Ji Li, who was born in Chengdu in 2007.

The number of captive pandas was 548 globally as of November last year. Fewer than 2,000 pandas live in the wild, mostly in the provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi.