First, a steady crawl. Then a short clumsy slide across the slick stone floor at their home at the Beauval Zoo near Paris. Then finally the big show as the twin giant panda cubs took their first steps in public on Saturday.
The female twins were born in August. Their mother, Huan Huan, and father, Yuan Zi, are at the Beauval Zoo, south of Paris, on a 10-year loan from China aimed at highlighting good ties with France. The twin cubs, named Huanlili and Yuandudu, are their second and third cubs after the first panda ever born in France, Yuan Meng, in 2017.
In a video, released by the zoo on Saturday, the twin cubs are seen clumsily making their way around the territory. At some point, both attempt to climb nearby rocks as a caretaker looks on and films them with a smartphone.
The cubs will spend a few years in France before being sent to China.