Huan Huan, a giant panda on loan to France, gave birth to twin cubs two weeks ago. According to officials at Beauval Zoo, the pair are now past "the critical period."

Veterinarians at the zoo were pleased to confirm that in the first 10 days, the cubs had doubled in weight and the time spent in incubators, used to control their body temperature, was slowly being reduced.

Baptiste Mulot, head veterinarian at Beauval Zoo said: "They alternate between incubator and suckling on mum, meaning the babies are weighed, then placed on their mother to suckle and then weighed again and then they sleep in the incubator."

Mother Huan Huan gave birth at around 1 a.m. on August 2, the third time she has delivered cubs with partner Yuan Zi.

The first panda born in France arrived in 2017 and staff at the zoo are delighted as reproduction in captivity and the wild is notoriously difficult.

"The two babies are perfectly healthy. They look big enough. They are magnificent," said Rodolphe Delord, president of the Zoo in Saint-Aignan, central France.

Experts say reproduction is often hindered by pandas' low sex drive and lack of regular practice. On top of that, female pandas are only fertile once a year for a period of 48 hours, making the window for conception extremely small.

Huan Huan and Yuan Zi managed to "make contact," as the zoo officials put it, eight times in a weekend in March and vets also carried out an artificial insemination, just to be sure.

There are 1,864 giant pandas living in the wild, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and another 500 in captivity.

Staff have temporarily named the babies Little Snow and Cotton Flower, but they will receive their permanent names 100 days after their birth – to be chosen by Peng Liyuan, wife of China's President Xi Jinping.

The pandas are on loan to the zoo from China.

Video editor: Pedro Duarte

Cover image: Guillaume Souvant AFP