Hong Kong: finally calm, zoo pandas mate again

Text by: RFI Follow

A miracle of love took place in Hong Kong, in an animal park closed to the public for two months because of the coronavirus epidemic. Two pandas who have not mated for ten years have been seen hugging each other. A special containment fairy tale.

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They are called Ying Ying and Le Le. For ten years, it has not worked between these two residents of Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Who knows why ... Old couples? Passing time ?

The trainers have tried everything so that this male and this female pandas have a cub. They even took semen from Le Le to inseminate Ying Ying. But it only resulted in miscarriages. Too much stress, too much pressure ... but above all, probably too many visitors. Too many people clustered around the enclosure, to see them all the time.

The very delicate reproduction of pandas

So when the coronavirus epidemic spread, when the park closed, and finally, calm returned, as if by chance, desire also resurfaced. The two teddy bears started playing, cuddling, cuddling, kissing and then nature did the rest. Ocean Park announced the good news on Monday April 6, sharing a photo of the two lovebirds at the same time.

The reproduction of giant pandas is very delicate. The Beauval zoo - where Yuan Zi and Huan Huan had a little Yuan Meng in the summer of 2017 - recalls that in this animal adulated in China, the mating season takes place only once a year, between the 15th February and March 30, and that the female is only fertile for 48 hours.

In addition, male pandas do not have a particularly developed libido. It is not yet known whether, at Hong Kong's Ocean Park, the pairing of Ying Ying and Lele will give birth to small pandas, but zoo directors may well draw inspiration from their story: love is better in privacy.

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