美國動物園3年後發現搞錯熊貓性別

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.據英國媒體報道，美國亞特蘭大動物園12月13日發佈聲明，承認搞錯了3只熊貓寶寶“美輪”、“美奐”和“阿寶”的性別。

雙胞胎“美輪”和“美奐”所在的亞特蘭大動物園最初以爲“兄弟倆”是雄性，沒想到DNA檢測認定，這兩隻小國寶竟是一對“姐妹”。姐妹倆2013年7月出生，10月23日百天之際正式取名。另外，2010年出生的熊貓“阿寶”也被搞錯了性別，明明是個女娃，卻被叫上了功夫熊貓的名字。

亞特蘭大動物園發言人凱莎•海因斯說，動物園即將把“阿寶”送回中國，進行例行檢查的時候，發現搞錯了這位“小姐”的性別，就乾脆給“美輪”和“美奐”也查了一遍。結果大吃一驚，3只熊貓的性別全搞錯了！動物園發佈聲明說：“它們在3歲之前沒有明顯的外部性特徵。”

亞特蘭大動物園搞錯熊貓性別已有前科。中國養殖人員2011年曾表示，動物園的一隻“雌性”大熊貓“美蘭”其實是雄性的。

成都大熊貓基地1999年把大熊貓“倫倫”和雄性同伴“洋洋”送往亞特蘭大，以人工受孕的方式在2010年生下“阿寶”，並於2013年生下““美輪”和“美奐”。