How pandas have survived in the wild is a mystery beyond understanding, especially when you realize that panda moms almost always abandon their second cub if they have twins.
If twins are born, usually only one survives in the wild. The mother will select the stronger of the cubs, and the weaker cub will die due to starvation.
It is just a bummer when that happens (and it happens in HALF OF ALL PANDA BIRTHS).
Luckily, humans have a useful hack for taking care of this annoying problem: Trick the mom into thinking the two cubs are one cub!
The twins are ... switched up to 10 times a day to maintain the single baby panda illusion.
To be fair to the panda mom, it's not entirely her fault. Panda mothers generally lack both the milk and the energy to care for two cubs at once (they eat freaking bamboo all day, my peeps), so she's only following her own internal mandates.
Still, even though the mom is reluctant to care for both babies, it's still tricky to get one of them away from her. Handlers "use a bowl of honey water to placate the mother, while they attempt to remove the child." Do this enough times and the panda will let the whole thing commence.
Compare this low-energy bear with the opportunistic scavenging of a grizzly or the patient savagery of a polar bear (at least their handlers don't shoot them when they try to give hugs though).
I think I kinda maybe sorta agree with Matt Walsh on this one:
