BEIJING — For the first time, a giant panda cub has been born in China after being conceived using frozen sperm, officials announced Friday — an innovation scientists hope will help the endangered species avoid extinction.

The new cub's birth Thursday means breeders will no longer be forced to rely on semen from China's few virile males, and may even be able to bring in sperm from zoos in San Diego, Mexico City or elsewhere.

That's key to promoting a healthy panda population because too much inbreeding can lead to birth defects that would further threaten the survival of the species.

The new cub, born to You You, a female panda at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in southwestern Sichuan, is the tenth born at the breeding facility this year. It was You You's third successful pregnancy.

Just after dawn, the pinkish, hairless cub emerged, and its mother was shown licking the tiny wiggling creature to clean it on footage broadcast by the state television channel CCTV.

Panda researchers said Friday it was the first successful live birth worldwide using frozen panda sperm.