One of the panda cubs recently born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC has died, the zoo confirmed.
The smaller panda cub was incubated by zookeepers because its mother Mei Xiang had trouble nursing both cubs.
Staff swapped the tiny cub certain feeding together with her mother Tuesday night and saw the cub was struggling this morning.
"When we realised the cub wasn't getting to make it, it had been devastating," zoo staff said.
The zoo said it had been "prepared" to rear twin cubs and did everything it could to stay both of them alive.
Antibiotics and other liquids couldn't save the cub, who was having respiratory issues.
One zoo official said there had been some "misunderstanding" that Mei Xiang preferred one cub over another.
"We were optimistic, we expect Mei Xiang was doing everything right, but we do not know," said Dr Donald Neiffer, chief veterinarian at the National Zoo. "She was trying to balance and juggle two kids at an equivalent time. there have been days when she was a touch less curious about taking a baby, but that occurred for both babies."
No official explanation for death has been named, but the zoo is running tests to work it out.
The small cub weighed 86 grams when it had been born, while the larger cub weighed 138 grams. The 17-year-old Mei Xiang weighs 238 lbs (108kg).
Mei Xiang's first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and returned to China in 2010. Her second cub, Bao Bao, just celebrated her second birthday.
Giant pandas are one among the foremost species within the world and are notoriously hard to breed in captivity.
The National Zoo is one among only four zoos within the US to possess pandas, which are on loan from China.
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