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。

【美国动物园3年后发现搞错熊猫性别】相关文章：

★ NASA也要赚钱恰饭，国际空间站要变旅游景点

★ 陌生人，你是我的亲人

★ 天才! 美国少年同时获颁高中文凭和哈佛大学学位

★ 地球更绿了！美国航天局：中国和印度贡献最大

★ 英动物园开大熊猫“爱情隧道”鼓励交配

★ 如果有半个月假期，不考虑预算，你最想去哪？

★ 现在能做些什么5年后受益匪浅？

★ Facebook的数字货币惊动国际清算银行

★ 我国科学家发现了可抑制HIV扩散的蛋白质

★ 美国大学生就业职场出现的新变化