Atlanta Zoo officials said on Friday that twin giant panda cubs, the first to be born and survive in the United States, have both turned out to be female.
The zoo, which initially had identified both cubs as male after they were born in July, said DNA testing had now shown they are both female.
"Prior to the time they are at least 3 years old, there are no obvious external cues as to their sex," the zoo said in a statement.
Members of the public this fall helped choose the twins' names, Mei Lun and Mei Huan, which come from a Chinese idiom meaning "something indescribably beautiful and magnificent."
The DNA tests showed a third panda, 3-year-old Po also initially believed to be male, is female as well.
Po and the twin cubs were conceived through artificial insemination with the same set of parents.
Giant pandas are endangered and live only in a few mountain ranges in central China. An estimated 1,600 live in the wild and about 300 in captivity, mostly in China, zoo officials said.
据英国媒体报道，美国亚特兰大动物园12月13日发布声明，承认搞错了3只熊猫宝宝“美轮”、“美奂”和“阿宝”的性别。
双胞胎“美轮”和“美奂”所在的亚特兰大动 物园最初以为“兄弟俩”是雄性，没想到DNA检测认定，这两只小国宝竟是一对“姐妹”。姐妹俩2013年7月出生，10月23日百天之际正式取名。另 外，2010年出生的熊猫“阿宝”也被搞错了性别，明明是个女娃，却被叫上了功夫熊猫的名字。
亚特兰大动物园发言人凯莎•海因斯说，动物园即将把“阿宝”送回中国，进行例行检查的时候，发现搞错了这位“小姐”的性别，就干脆给“美轮”和“美奂”也查了一遍。结果大吃一惊，3只熊猫的性别全搞错了！动物园发布声明说：“它们在3岁之前没有明显的外部性特征。”
亚特兰大动物园搞错熊猫性别已有前科。中国养殖人员2011年曾表示，动物园的一只“雌性”大熊猫“美兰”其实是雄性的。
成都大熊猫基地1999年把大熊猫“伦伦”和雄性同伴“洋洋”送往亚特兰大，以人工受孕的方式在2010年生下“阿宝”，并于2013年生下““美轮”和“美奂”。