A six-month-old giant panda cub was unveiled to the media at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo on Monday, becoming the zoo's first to debut in 29 years.
"We started a panda breeding program in 2010 but it's not easy to make these animals produce a cub," Yutaka Fukuda, head of the zoo, said at a ceremony on the zoo's premises. "We're happy and proud of our success."
He stressed that female Xiang Xiang is the zoo's first cub born as a result of natural mating, and expressed hope the parents' further reproductive attempts will be successful.