Are Giant Pandas the LAZIEST lovers in the animal kingdom? As the UK’s only pair head back to China after 12 years of failing to mate, experts reveal why the species is so bad at sex
Spending twelve years in captivity together seems like more than enough time to fall in love and start a family — but not for giant pandas.
After arriving in Scotland together in December 2011, Britain's only giant pandas – called Tian Tian and Yang Guang – have returned to their home in China.
It was hoped that female Tian Tian ('Sweetie') and male Yang Guang ('Sunshine') would produce an adorable cub during their stay at Edinburgh Zoo.
But after repeated attempts at natural breeding and artificial insemination – which angered animal rights groups – the bears never succeeded in becoming pregnant.
This species is notorious for mating, especially in captivity, and MailOnline took a closer look to find out why.
Yang Guang, one of Edinburgh Zoo's giant pandas, eats bamboo stalks in his enclosure, in Edinburgh
Tian Tian (pictured) had cubs in China, but not in the UK. Experts admitted that this species is “difficult to reproduce,” especially in captivity
Professor Simon Girling, head of veterinary services at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), admitted that giant pandas are “difficult to breed”.
“It's sad that the Tian Tian hasn't bred here, and obviously we would have really liked it to have, but that's not unusual with giant pandas. They're difficult to breed, and there's a reason they're endangered.” He said.
Combined with their small organs and low metabolic rates, the giant panda's diet — which is 99 percent bamboo — leaves them with very little energy to move, let alone mate.
Its energy-saving attributes include an underactive thyroid – the gland that produces hormones to help regulate metabolism (the process that converts food into energy).
Even when moving, a giant panda uses half the amount of energy as a stationary human.
“Unlike most other herbivorous species, their digestive system did not evolve with the long twists and turns that facilitate the slower digestion needed for cellulose-rich plants,” a Chinese team of experts said in the journal. Sciences.
Panda thyroid hormone levels are also a small fraction of the normal range for mammals.
Giant pandas in zoos are lazier than in the wild, partly because they are given bamboo and don't have to hunt for it, but also because of the absence of stressors caused by the wild environment.
In captivity, pandas spend 33% of their time being physically active, while in the wild they spend 49% of their time being physically active.
As a result, it becomes difficult to raise them in captivity, as they lose interest in mating in the natural way.
Giant pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian are loaded inside metal boxes onto a China Southern Airlines cargo plane at Edinburgh Airport on Monday morning.
What makes matters more difficult is the fact that female pandas can only become pregnant for two to three days a year.
Female pandas go through one estrous cycle in the spring, when they are only fertile for 24 to 36 hours, according to Panda Conservation International.
The male giant panda also bears a large share of the blame.
According to legendary wildlife conservationist Susan Mainka, males are bad at reading when females want to have sex.
This is perfectly illustrated by hilarious video footage in 2021, showing the advances of a playful female that is missed by a male more interested in his bamboo.
“Often, males don't read the signals correctly, and if they try at the wrong time, they get bitten,” Mainka said. Watchman.
The zookeepers tried everything to get Tian Tian and Yang Guang to mate, from playing romantic music to putting them in a “tunnel of love” to put them in a passionate mood.
Wildlife conservation charity Born Free estimates that Edinburgh Zoo has spent £13.7 million on the pair and is trying to get a cub from them.
The charity described the project as “sacrilegious” and a “total failure” in its comments WatchmanWhile OneKind said there was “no good reason to keep pandas captive in zoos.”
Yang Guang and Tian Tian came to Edinburgh Zoo in 2011 as part of a 10-year agreement between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the China Wildlife Conservation Society, which was later extended by two years. Pictured is Yang Guang
Yang Guang and Tian Tian came to Edinburgh Zoo in December 2011 as part of a 10-year agreement, extended by two years, between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the China Wildlife Conservation Society.
Edinburgh Zoo experimented with natural breeding and then moved on to trying artificial insemination until 2018, when Yang Guang had to have his testicles removed after tumors were discovered.
Despite the failure to birth a giant panda cub in Edinburgh, the RZSS CEO said Yang Guang and Tian Tian had had an “incredible impact”.
“We have made a significant contribution to our understanding of giant panda fertility, breeding and veterinary care, which has been of real benefit to efforts to protect this amazing species in China,” he said.
“It is encouraging that in recent years the outlook for giant pandas in the wild has improved, giving real hope for the future.”
In the photo, a China Southern cargo plane carrying giant pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian takes off from Edinburgh Airport as they begin their journey back to China after spending 12 years in Scotland.
Yang Guang and Tian Tian were taken to the airport in metal boxes and loaded onto a cargo plane with a bamboo pallet before their flight back to China, which departed on Monday morning.
They have been in quarantine since the beginning of November and will spend some time in quarantine upon their arrival in China, where they will live in a sanctuary in Chengdu.
Attempts to breed giant pandas in captivity first began in China in 1955.
In 1963, Ming Ming, the first giant panda bred in captivity, was born at Beijing Zoo, but none have ever been born in the UK.
At the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico, a female named Tuhui (1981-1993) was the first panda to be born and survive childhood outside of China.
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