Hopes that Edinburgh may see first UK panda birth
Edinburgh Zoo have announced that their female panda is believed to be pregnant - but that we may have to wait to see if it results in the patter of tiny paws.
Artificial insemination was carried out on Tian Tian on Sunday 13 April this year and since then experts have continued to analyse specific hormone and protein levels in her urine on a daily basis.
Iain Valentine, Director of Giant Pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said: “The latest scientific data suggests Tian Tian the giant panda is now pregnant and that implantation has taken place, therefore she may give birth at the end of the month. This is all very new and complex science and we still have a bit of time to go yet as, like last year, the late loss of a cub remains entirely possible. In simplistic terms, when this information is studied retrospectively this allows us to predict if she is pregnant, if she is likely to carry to full term and when she is likely to give birth. It is very likely that we will not know 100% if Tian Tian is pregnant until she gives birth; however very new scientific tests will give us a strong indication, they are just too new to be definitive.
“Monitoring a female giant pandas behaviour - for example if she is sleeping a lot, eating more or spending time in her cubbing den - is not an indicator of if she is pregnant or otherwise, as giant pandas experience pseudo pregnancies and she will show ‘pregnant’ type behaviour whether she is pregnant or not."
Two Chinese experts are due to arrive in Scotland shortly to assist and the team are continuing to monitor Tian Tian and to wait.
In 2013, RZSS successfully performed the first artificial insemination procedure to take place on a giant panda in the UK. The team have since been able to confirm that Tian Tian did become pregnant, however most likely reabsorbed the foetus late term – a common occurrence in giant pandas both in zoos and the wild.
The panda enclosure at the Zoo is due to be closed to visitors from this Saturday, 16 August, until further notice in what the Royal Zoological Society has described as 'this exciting but delicate period'.
Image courtesy of Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
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