World's lightest panda cub born in China

CHENGDU -- A female giant panda cub weighing 42.8 grams, about the weight of an average chicken egg and the world's lightest ever, was born in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, local authorities said Thursday.

The cub and her twin sister were born to giant panda Chengda on Tuesday at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

The cub's birth weight was less than one-fourth that of her sister which weighed 171.9 grams, and it measured only two-thirds as long as her sister, according to the base.

The base said the cub is now in stable condition, thanks to round-the-clock care from researchers at the base.

Before the cub's birth, the world's lightest panda cub was Wuyi, weighing 51 grams when he was born in 2006 at the Chengdu research base. Wuyi now weighs 132 kg.

As of November 2018, a total of 284 giant panda cubs have been born at the Chengdu research base with a survival rate of 98 percent.