The twins, born at around 1am, are the second and third cubs for Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi, after the 2017 birth of the first panda ever born in France, Yuan Meng.

“The two babies are pink. They are perfectly healthy. They look big enough. They are magnificent,” said Rodolphe Delord, president of Zoo-Parc de Beauval in Saint-Aignan.

Panda reproduction, in captivity or in the wild, is notoriously difficult as experts say few pandas get in the mood or even know what to do.

Further complicating matters, the window for conception is small since female pandas are in heat only once a year for about 24 to 48 hours.

Huan Huan and Yuan Zi thrilled zoo officials in March when they managed to make “contact”, as they put it, eight times in a weekend.

Veterinarians also carried out artificial insemination, just to be sure.

Huan Huan’s first cub, Yuan Meng, now weighs more than 100kg and is to be sent this year to China, where there are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas living in the wild and another 500 in captivity.

Huan Huan’s newborns will not be named for 100 days, with Peng Liyuan – wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping – set to choose what they will be called.