Chinese Koala twins

The irony for Aussies is as delicious as gumleaves are to them - twin koalas born in China, not Australia.

The sisters, Little Michelle and Little Amanda after their Australian keepers, were to be officially unveiled yesterday at Xiangjiang Safari Park, in southern China.

With international media present, only Little Michelle at first could be tempted from mum Murrumbidgee's pouch. Then Little Amanda joined her sibling.

A sea of Chinese faces, pressed against the glass of the monitoring room in the park's $1.6 million koala enclosure, showed delight as mum and cubs had their daily weigh-in.

The odds of koala twins being born are rated by experts as one in 10,000. Only one other twin birth in captivity has been recorded - at Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo more than 40 years ago. The seven-month-old twins are the offspring of Murrumbidgee and Murray, two of six koalas sent by Currumbin Sanctuary on the Gold Coast.