LONDON (AP) — The only female giant panda in Britain is thought to be pregnant, Edinburgh Zoo said Thursday. ADVERTISING LONDON (AP) — The only female giant panda in Britain is thought to be pregnant, Edinburgh Zoo said Thursday. The
LONDON (AP) — The only female giant panda in Britain is thought to be pregnant, Edinburgh Zoo said Thursday.
The zoo said Tian Tian “is being closely monitored,” but it’s unclear when she will give birth. The zoo said “it’s hard to predict precisely and the panda breeding season can last until late September.”
Tian Tian and male panda Yang Guang, who are both 14, arrived in Edinburgh on a decade-long loan from China in 2011 and are the only giant pandas in Britain.
Tian Tian, or Sweetie, has been pregnant several times before in the U.K. but has never given birth. She had twin cubs in 2009 in China.
Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and their pregnancies are notoriously difficult to follow. Their fetuses are tiny and hard to detect, and the animals also experience “pseudo-pregnancies” during which behavior and hormonal changes indicate they are pregnant even when they are not.
The zoo’s statement came after the Edinburgh Evening News obtained correspondence between the zoo and Scottish government disclosing that Tian Tian was artificially inseminated and could give birth as early as this week.
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