£10m baby flop pandas head home
THE country’s two giant pandas may return to China without having bred together.
Tian Tian (which means “sweetie”) and ex-mate Yang Guang (“sunshine”) arrived at Edinburgh Zoo from Bifengxia Breeding Centre on a 10-year, £10million conservation deal that ends in December.
Tian Tian had had twins in 2009 but her first mating season in Scotland failed.
She began a pregnancy via artificial insemination in 2013 but did not bear a cub – seven more efforts foundered. Tian Tian is nearing the end of her reproductive life but zoo chiefs
want to extend the 18-year-old pandas’ stay.
David Field, head of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said AI attempts helped “with scientific research which has benefitted both Tian Tian and international efforts to protect the species”.