Twin's death mars rare panda joy

The living cub was filmed being carried by its mother Enlarge Image

A giant panda who delivered a cub on Thursday actually gave birth to twins but one died, said the Austrian zoo which houses the endangered animals.

The minute body was spotted hours later on CCTV as Schoenbrunn Zoo staff monitored the mother and her newborn.

It is still not clear whether the cub was stillborn or died after birth.

The surviving cub - which is yet to be named - was the first panda in Europe to be born after having been naturally conceived in captivity.

Most pandas born in captivity are the product of artificial insemination but staff at the zoo in Vienna said they wanted "to let nature run its course".

Female pandas are only fertile for three or four days each year.

Perfect harmony

Zoologist Regina Pfistermueller said that the deceased panda had weighed 88g (0.19lb), making its chances of survival almost impossible.

The living cub measured 10cm (4in) and weighed 100g (0.22lb).

The twins were the product of the zoo's two resident giant pandas, female Yang Yang and male Long Hui.

The adults - both now seven years old - were loaned by China to the zoo in 2003, and conceived the cubs on 27 April 2007, zoo officials said.

At a news conference on Thursday, director Dagmar Schratter said the two "live in perfect harmony".

But she said her team "had almost given up", adding that an ultrasound on 6 August had shown no evidence that Yang Yang - whose name means sunshine - was pregnant.

Endangered species

The arrival of the first cub was discovered early on Thursday after unusual noises were heard coming from the panda's enclosure. CCTV footage confirmed the birth.

Ms Schratter said the cub, whose sex will not be known for a few weeks, will be named by Chinese officials.

China established a loan system in 1984 under which foreign zoos pay up to £500,000 (740,000 euros; $1m) to house the animals.

The giant panda is native to the upland bamboo forests of China's Sichuan province. However, only about 1,600 remain in the wild, with some 160 in captivity.

Half of the panda's mountainous bamboo habitat was lost between 1974 and 1988 and the animal is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.