Two giant pandas in a Hong Kong theme park have mated for the first time after trying for over ten years.
Ying Ying and Le Le, both 14 years old, are giant pandas who have been living at Ocean Park since 2007 but despite encouragement from zookeepers, have been reluctant to mate with visitors watching them every day.
But with the park shut to the public from the end of January due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the low-libido pandas successfully completed natural mating on Monday morning.
The executive director for zoological operations and conservation at Ocean Park Michael Boos says the zoo hopes to welcome a giant panda cub later in the year.
"The successful natural mating process today is extremely exciting for all of us, as the chance of pregnancy via natural mating is higher than by artificial insemination," he says.
"We hope to bear wonderful pregnancy news to Hong Kongers this year and make further contributions to the conservation of this vulnerable species."
The pandas are almost a decade past sexual maturity and Chinese scientists had been worried may not conceive naturally.
Giant pandas have difficulty reproducing due to a short mating and fertile period of only two to four days per year, which has contributed to the species becoming vulnerable.
The Guardian reported scientists had previously tried artificial insemination but their attempts had resulted in miscarriages.
When the pandas began showing mating signs on the weekend zookeepers were hoping something could happen.
"Since late March, Ying Ying began spending more time playing in the water, while Le Le has been leaving scent-markings around his habitat and searching the area for Ying Ying’s scent," the park said in a statement.
"The teams have been closely monitoring the giant pandas’ body conditions and behavioural changes and deemed it a peak oestrous this morning for natural mating opportunity."
On Monday the two pandas mated to the delight of the zookeepers but it is too early to tell if a baby panda might be on the way. The pregnancy can only be confirmed 14 to 17 days before the birth using ultrasound scans.
The theme park did not mention whether the breeding could be due to reduced stress from visitors but said the animals' success was due to years of "trial and learning" and collaboration with experts from the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda.
The WWF estimates there are only 1800 giant pandas left in the wild with the population increasing by 15 percent in the last ten years.
