PARIS, France — Author's note: The video above is on file from June 6, 2020.
First, a steady crawl. Then a short clumsy slide across the slick stone floor at their home at the Beauval Zoo south of Paris.
Then finally the big show, as twin giant panda cubs took their first steps in public on Saturday.
The female twins were born in August.
They are named Huanlili and Yuandudu, Their mother, Huan Huan, and father, Yuan Zi, are in France on a 10-year loan from China aimed at highlighting the country's good ties with France.
The twins are the second and third cubs born to the panda parents after the first panda that was ever born in France, Yuan Meng, in 2017.