Panda is pregnant .. and its due date is today!
Edinburgh Zoo bosses ‘believe’ that Tian Tian is about to be a mum after six years of trying
THE UK’S only female giant panda – Edinburgh Zoo’s Tian Tian – is thought to be pregnant.
The panda, who has been a leading attraction at the zoo since arriving in 2011, could give birth today – although bosses said the exact date was hard to predict.
Panda pregnancies are difficult to detect because foetuses do not start to develop until the final weeks.
The zoo have tried repeatedly to get the endangered bear to produce a cub and revealed in 2015 that she had lost the baby.
They turned to artificial insemination after the zoo’s male panda, Yang Guang, was unreceptive to natural mating.
A spokeswoman for Royal Zoological Society of Scotland Edinburgh Zoo said: “Giant panda breeding is a very complicated process but we believe that Tian Tian is pregnant.
“Although a specific date was suggested, like all babies it’s hard to predict precisely and the panda breeding season can last until late September.
“Tian Tian is being closely monitored by our expert team and we will be the first to share any news as soon as we can.”
Panda reproduction is a notoriously tricky process, with females only ovulating once a year. Tian Tian (Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) are the only giant pandas living in the UK.
The black-and-white bears arrived on loan from China in December 2011 and are due to remain at Edinburgh Zoo for a decade.
The two were brought to the UK under a historic agreement between the UK and Chinese governments.
They were the first giant pandas to be based in the UK for 17 years.
At birth, a panda cub weighs just 150g – about 1000th of its mother’s weight – making it among the smallest mammal babies.
They are born pink and covered in short, sparse white hair and their eyes are tightly shut.
Their renowned black patches start to appear at around one week old, followed by black hair on the patches a few weeks later.
Panda mothers lick their cubs often and do not leave them to eat their favourite food, bamboo, until they are three to four weeks old.
From that age, cubs can regulate their body temperatures and do not need constant body contact from the mum.