Hong Kong’s panda cub twins are now officially two months old.
The pair have gone from hairless and pink to developing their signature black and white and slowly opening their eyes.
Ocean Park also shared that the weight of both cubs had increased by about 20 times. “Elder Sister” has gone from just 122 grams to 2.7kg (5.9lbs) and “Little Brother” weighs in at 2.54kg after starting out at 112 grams.
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Howard Chuk, the park’s head of zoological operations and conservation, recalled how surprised he and his colleagues were when they realised giant panda mum Ying Ying was having twins.
“Before Ying Ying gave birth to Elder Sister, the ultrasound scans only detected one fetus,” he said.
But staff at the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda suspected there might be another cub, and chose to continue monitoring Ying Ying.
“When Little Brother was born about an hour later, it was a delightful surprise for all of us,” Chuk said.
Since the cubs were born in mid-August, the park’s panda-dedicated Instagram has seen its follower count reach up to 87,300.
The twins’ journey has captured the hearts of many, reflecting a broader trend of animals that have found celebrity-like fame on social media. Such strong followings can also extend to the animals’ keepers.
Ocean Park panda keeper Matt Leung, better known by his Instagram handle @thezookeepermatt, has amassed an even larger following at 91,400.
Leung, whose official title is assistant curator, recently revealed in a post that he had been a staffer there for 14 years, but started all the way back in 2005 as a volunteer at an aquarium and working with seals.
Asked about the highlight of his job, he said it was being able to spend “quality time with animals, talking to them [and] playing with them”.
Typical posts from Leung include fun photos of the pandas in his care and the occasional anecdote or animal fact.
He was among the local keepers sent to mainland China’s Sichuan province earlier this year to get to know An An and Ke Ke – the two giant pandas gifted to the city by Beijing to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty.
Another giant panda with a strong social media following is Fu Bao, who was born in July 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic at South Korea’s Everland Resort.
The bear is the first to be born in the country through natural breeding. Her parents are Le Bao and Ai Bao – adult pandas loaned to the country by China in 2016 as part of Beijing’s “panda diplomacy”.
She quickly won the nation’s hearts. Through her adorable antics such as climbing trees, munching on bamboo and playing with caretaker Kang Cheol-won saw her Instagram following soar to 244,000.
Kang also became an internet celebrity in his own right.
Under an agreement between the resort and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, pandas born from loaned adults must be returned to China before they turn four years old.
Fu Bao left South Korea in April, with thousands of well-wishers coming to the amusement park to say their final goodbyes. Some were even seen openly sobbing as they witnessed her departure.
Keeper Kang, affectionately referred to as Fu Bao’s grandfather, whipped up the emotions of the crowd even more when he read out a letter to the panda.
“Fu Bao, you gave hope and bliss to many people since the moment you were born. It’s now time for you to go on a long trip to begin your new life,” he said.
A documentary film named Hello, Grandpa chronicling the three months leading up to Fu Bao’s eventual departure from South Korea was released in August, and topped the country’s box offices.
But pandas aren’t the only ones making a splash online.
Keen internet users will know Moo Deng, the baby pygmy hippopotamus was born at Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo in July.
The mischievous hippo has attracted a swarm of Instagram fans thanks to videos of her bouncing around, biting zookeepers and relaxing in baths.
“She’s the people’s princess,” one fan wrote on the official page for Moo Deng and her family, which has 563,000 followers.
“I am obsessed,” another said.
Fans have even travelled from as far away as New York to see her, while the zoo itself has a 50 per cent rise in visitors between September 1 and 19, just after she shot to fame.
Over in Australia, Pesto the baby king penguin at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is also an up-and-comer internet darling, after he grew from less than a 1lbs in late January to more than 50lbs last month.
Elder Sister’s weight: 2.7kg
Little Brother’s weight: 2.54kg
More from South China Morning Post:
- Hong Kong’s Ying Ying recovering slowly since giving birth as panda twins start crawling
- Panda Watch: Hong Kong cubs starting to develop their own distinctive features
- Panda Watch: Hong Kong twins ‘starting to see the world’, graduate from incubators to cots
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