Giant Panda Twins Born at Zoo Atlanta

One weighed in at 3 ½ ounces and the other at an even 5 ounces.

Now workers are on baby duty around the clock at Zoo Atlanta. Deputy Director Dwight Lawson says pandas give birth to twins quite often. But in the wild, the mother usually rejects one cub. To keep both alive, the Zoo staff is helping out by pulling a panda switcheroo.

“One cub will be with her, and another cub will be in the incubator. And we try to swap as often as we can,” says Lawson. “And so we’re having to do supplemental feedings to the cub that’s in the incubator, try to get them as much mom time as possible, and kind of stay pretty fluid with our planning as things change.”

Lawson says, right now, Lun Lun either doesn’t recognize she has two cubs or doesn’t care. The twins were a surprise, because late in her pregnancy, Lawson says Lun Lun was not especially cooperative when it came to getting ultrasounds.

The zoo hopes to determine the cubs’ gender in the next two to three days. If the cubs thrive, they will stay at Zoo Atlanta with mom for at least three years and then join the larger panda breeding program in China.

Lawson says they are the first panda twins born in the United States in more than 20 years.