BOSTON -- Stella Luna and Yang are the parents of a pair of brand new twins, and operators of the Franklin Park Zoo couldn't be more pleased.

The red panda parents gave birth to the male and female twins on July 4, and the cubs, which are born helpless with eyes closed, have been comfortably nesting with their mom for the last month.

They have not yet been named.

“We are thrilled to announce this exciting birth," said John Linehan, Zoo New England president and CEO. "As with any new birth, we are closely monitoring the mother and cubs. Stella Luna has proven to be an excellent mother and she is doing everything a red panda mother should.”

Red pandas, which resemble raccoons, have white and red markings and are covered with dense fur. They use their long, bushy tails to balance when they are in trees, according to the zoo.

In the wild, red pandas are found in the cool temperate bamboo forests in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan in China, as well as in the Himalayas and Myanmar. They share part of their range with giant pandas, a species to which they are not related, despite their name.

Red pandas have a varied diet, but do eat bamboo. They have a small bony projection on their wrists that helps them grip bamboo stalks. This species is scarce and declining, threatened by habitat loss in the wild. This birth is the result of a recommended breeding between Stella Luna and Yang, the zoo said.

Zoo New England participates in the Red Panda Species Survival Plan (SSP), which is a cooperative, inter-zoo program coordinated nationally through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). SSPs are designed to maintain genetically diverse and demographically stable captive populations of species.

“We hope people will come out to see the cubs and learn more about these fascinating little animals," Linehan said.

The twins should be ready to greet the public by the end of October.