Liang Liang, a female panda on loan from China, has given birth to a cub

Liang Liang, a female panda on loan from China, has given birth to a cub in Malaysia's national zoo, Zoo Negara in Kuala Lumpur on 18 August at 1.45pm local time.

Giant Panda Conservation Centre zoology in confirming the birth, said: "Liang Liang is very motherly and she is very protective of her cub."

However, zoo officials managed to separate the cub and the mother for four minutes to "quickly weigh, measure the height and determine the sex.

They believe that Liang Liang will make a good mother and can take care of the cub as she has given birth previously. She raised the first baby on her own and we hope she does the same. We feel there are better chances of survival with her taking care of the cub.

Both mother and the cub will be under quarantine for two months before the public will be allowed to view them. Once Liang Liang is ready to leave her cub alone, it will be placed in a nursery room for public viewing.

Although zoo officials suspected Liang Liang was pregnant on 7 August due to her high progesterone level, they were unable to take a second blood test to confirm this. The birth, he said was unexpected as they thought it was a pseudo pregnancy.

Malaysia has set a world record by having the first pair of pandas to naturally reproduce within a short period of time while in captivity, outside of China.

It normally took eight to nine years for pandas in captivity to reproduce, but even then, this was usually done through artificial insemination.

Nine-year-old Liang Liang and Xing Xing from Chengdu, China were loaned to Malaysia following the Giant Panda International Conservation Cooperation Agreement Programme and arrived in Malaysia on 21/5/2014.