Panda cubs measured at Zoo Atlanta ahead of public debut
ATLANTA, GA (AP) - Today we learned there is nothing cuter than a baby panda cub being measured by the keepers at Zoo Atlanta.
Zoo Atlanta’s 19 year-old giant panda, Lun Lun giving birth to a set of female panda cubs on September 3.
The twins are now two months old, weighing more than 4 pounds each. The duo is the second pair of surviving giant panda cubs born in the U.S., and the second instance of twin girls for Lun Lun.
WATCH: Baby panda adorably fails to roll over
According to Zoo Atlanta, Lun Lun only had one cub at a time because it's difficult for giant panda moms to take care of two at once. Now that they’re getting bigger, they’re almost ready to make their debut.
Zoo officials said that will happen in December or January.
Recently, Lun Lun started moving the cubs from their nest box into an adjacent den, which she has done with previous cubs, and is normal and expected, according to Keeper III Heather R.
"Wild giant panda mothers would move their infant cubs to different dens frequently to avoid detection from predators. The adjacent den that Lun Lun uses to house the cubs has a narrow end that is roughly the width of her nest box, which makes her feel comfortable and enclosed just like a den. The first few times that she took them into that den, she did not leave them there when she left to eat bamboo, but instead carried the cub back to the nest box and deposited it there," Heather explained on a Zoo Atlanta Facebook post.
They pair remains unnamed, at this point. According to Chinese tradition, the twins will be named 100 days after they were born, which will be on December 12.
LINK: Giant pandas are no longer endangered
To keep up with the panda cubs, you can watch the on Zoo Atlanta’s Panda cam: http://www.zooatlanta.org/1212/panda_cam