Soft and gentle as her name

Giant panda Yuan Yuan cuddling her baby Rou Rou at the Taipei Zoo yesterday.

China donated a pair of giant pandas - Tuan Tuan, a male, and Yuan Yuan, a female - to the zoo in 2008. Yuan Yuan delivered a female cub, Yuan Zai, in 2013, and gave birth to her second baby, Rou Rou, on June 28.

The new panda's caretakers also took care of her seven-year-old sister. According to them, Yuan Zai was rough and bold as a newborn cub. Her younger sister, on the other hand, is gentle and quiet, earning her the name Rou Rou, which means soft and gentle.

The zoo had been keeping the baby panda in an incubator during her first month - with a stuffed baby panda cub to keep her company - but she is now old enough to live with her mother.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 13, 2020, with the headline Soft and gentle as her name. Subscribe