Amazing time-lapse video shows the first 100 days of the first giant panda twins to survive in America - ever



The first twin giant panda cubs to survive in the U.S. have had their lives commemorated in a time-lapse video

The baby boys were filmed by Zoo Atlanta's PandaCam which documented their development

The video shows the cubs growing from tiny pink creatures to fuzzy black and white balls of energy

On their 100th day, October 23, the cubs were given their official names: Mei Lun and Mei Huan

To commemorate the first twin giant panda cubs to be born in the United States and survive, a time-lapse video has been released showing their first 100 days in three minutes.

The adorable video featuring Mei Lun and Mei Huan, baby giant pandas born at Zoo Atlanta in July, has already been viewed almost 200,000 times.

Over the course of 100 days, the baby boys develop from blind, pink, toothless creatures measuring about six to seven inches long and to robust, curious cubs with thick black and white fur.



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Tiny twins: The baby giant pandas must be kept warm when they are newborns as they cannot regulate their own body temperature

Helpless: At eight days old, the cubs are deaf and haven't yet opened their eyes

Developing: At 11 days old, the cubs have developed gray-ish markings where they will eventually have black fur

Mother's love: The cubs alternated time with their mother, spending three hours each with Lun Lun

Born July 15, the cubs' names were revealed, following Chinese tradition, on the 100th day of their lives in a 100 Day Naming Celebration on October 23.

The names, Mei Lun and Mei Huan, come from ancient Chinese idioms meaning 'something indescribably beautiful and magnificent.'

Zoo Atlanta documented their development by filming them with their 'PandaCam' 24 hours a day.



Giant panda cubs are about 900 times smaller than their mothers when they are born looking after them is extremely time-consuming for the mother.

The cubs appear to spend much of their time sleeping, but as they develop their eyes are open more and they begin moving around their enclosure.

Cubs generally begin crawling at about 75 to 80 days old.

Almost one month: The pandas have very soft, sparse fur when they are babies but will eventually grow thick, coarse fur

Miniature giants: By day 36 the pandas are beginning to look like tiny versions of the adults they will be

First sight: Both cubs opened their eyes and began using their back legs to scoot themselves around their enclosure at about this time

According to zookeeper Jennifer A, the cubs are now trying to stand.



'Both cubs are getting really good at standing... Their movements are still pretty clumsy, and sometimes when they try to walk they appear to be making frog-like or inchworm-like movements all around the nest box,' she wrote on the Zoo Atlanta panda blog.

Zoo Atlanta staff told YouTube viewers that, typically, the twins would not have survived in the wild.

In the comments section of the video, Zoo Atlanta said that in the wild, giant panda mothers only care for one cub when twins are born.

It's believed the mother panda cannot store enough milk to feed more than one cub as she does not store fat.

Growing fast: At this stage, the cubs weighed almost 7lb each

Teething: At about this age, the cubs' teeth began to come through and they became much more active

Milestone: The twins at their 100 Day Naming Celebration on October 23

To get around this problem, Zoo Atlanta staff alternated the cubs with their mother for the first few months.

This means their mother, Lun Lun, can give equal care to both cubs.

'This technique was first developed by our colleagues at the Chengdu Zoo. They used it for the first time in 1990 and as a result had the first pair of twins born in captivity to survive,' writes Jennifer A.