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Twin panda cubs' names revealed in southwest China

Xinhua, February 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Panda researchers in southwest China's Sichuan Province named a pair of panda cub twins after receiving more than 3,000 responses.

The winning names "Olympia" and "Fuwa", posted by the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach, came out on top after five pairs of names were put up for a final vote, a spokesperson from Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base said.

"Fuwa" is the name of the mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

After the twins were born on June 22 last year, the Chengdu base launched an activity to solicit names for the cubs between July and September. More than 3,000 responses including 900 from outside of the Chinese mainland were posted through microblog Sina Weibo, messaging app WeChat and e-mail.

The female twin panda cubs have attracted great attention worldwide because of their famous family.

Their mother "Kelin" is famous for a photo showing her watching a "pornograpic" video, which was chosen by Time magazine as one of the "Most Surprising Photos of 2013".

Their grandfather "Cobi" was named by former president of the IOC Juan Antonio Samaranch in 1992.

Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. Fewer than 2,000 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan and Shaanxi. There were 375 giant pandas in captivity in China at the end of 2013. Endi