Atlanta's Twin Panda Cubs Mark Their 100th Day with New Names

At an October 23 celebration marking their 100th day of life, Zoo Atlanta's twin panda cubs were given the names Mei Lun and Mei Huan, derived from a Chinese idiom meaning "something indescribably beautiful and magnificent." The names were chosen by the public from a selection provided by staff at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.

At long last, Zoo Atlanta's twin giant panda cubs will no longer be known as "Cub A" and "Cub B."

At an October 23 celebration marking their 100th day of life, the two young males received the names Mei Lun and Mei Huan, derived from a Chinese idiom meaning "something indescribably beautiful and magnificent." The names were chosen by the public through online voting from a selection provided by staff at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.

The twins (shown above) are the fourth and fifth cubs for their parents, Zoo Atlanta's Lun Lun and Yang Yang. They are the first surviving panda twins born in the United States.

Four U.S. cities exhibit giant pandas: Atlanta, San Diego, Washington and Memphis, Tennessee. Each of the zoos pays $1 million a year to China to help panda conservation efforts in return for the loan of a breeding pair to exhibit. If a couple produces a cub, the host zoo also gives China a one-time fee of $600,000 to keep the cub until it turns 2 years old, after which it is sent to China.

Washington's resident adult pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, recently produced their second cub. The female, born August 23 at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, will receive her name when she turns 100 days old.

The successful births are only a small part of U.S. efforts to help China save giant pandas. U.S. scientists have been working in China since 1996 to help Chinese colleagues in improving the health and reproductive success of the species in Chinese breeding centers and to help save it in the wild. There are approximately 1,600 giant pandas in the wild and roughly 300 in zoos and breeding centers worldwide.