A South Coast Zoo has some colorful new residents.
The Santa Barbara Zoo is celebrating the birth of two endangered red panda cubs. The twin cubs are the first born at the zoo in more than 30 years, and are the first for their parents, Raj and Ruby. The newborns are spending some time behind the scenes with their mother before they are moved out into their public home.
There are fewer than 10,000 of the red pandas left in the world. Native to the forests of the Eastern Himalayas and southwestern China, the species has been impacted by the loss of habitat and climate change.
The Santa Barbara Zoo is part of an international association of zoos and aquariums collaborating in a breeding program to help grow the populations of endangered species.
