Toronto residents can bearly contain their excitement Tuesday as the giant panda Er Shun has given birth to twin cubs — one at 3:31 a.m. and another at 3:44 a.m. The video below shows the birth of the first cub, which starts wailing uncontrollably (so you may have to turn down the volume a bit):
Both unnamed newborns are about the size of a stick of butter. Zoo staffers are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping the young ones will survive the critical hours and days ahead. “At this time Zoo staff do not know the sex of the cubs and have not confirmed which panda is the father,” the zoo wrote in a press release. “It may be several months before we are able to determine the sex and paternity of the cubs.”
26 of LIFE's Best Animal Covers
February 8, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Charles J. Belden).
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March 1, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Henry M. Lester).
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April 26, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Torkel Korling).
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July 26, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt).
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January 10, 1938 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Lane Flinders).
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December 12, 1938 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by George Karger).
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April 3, 1944 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Nina Leen).
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September 9, 1946 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Martha Holmes).
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September 23, 1946 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Frank Scherschel).
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November 4, 1946 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by David Douglas Duncan).
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August 23, 1948 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Jon Brenneis).
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January 31, 1949 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by George Karger).
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October 8, 1951 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Burton Glinn).
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November 30, 1953 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Fritz Goro).
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December 22, 1952 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Ed Clark).
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March 22, 1954 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Roger Kirschner).
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November 8, 1954 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Gjon Mili).
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November 24, 1958 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Ralph Crane).
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March 16, 1959 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Dmitri Kessel).
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June 27, 1960 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Fritz Goro).
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February 10, 1961 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Henry Burroughs).
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March 1, 1963 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Nina Leen).
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June 19, 1964 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by Francis Miller).
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January 6, 1967 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by John Dominis).
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December 5, 1969 LIFE Magazine cover (photo by John Dominis).
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LIFE magazine cover of 01-30-1970 w. pic of snow monkey of Japan in water, by Co Rentmeester.
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