The pandas Huan Huan and Yuan Zi in their new enclosure at the Beauval Zooparc, January 17, 2012. -
REUTERS / Benoit Tessier
Huan Huan, the female panda loaned by China to Beauval Zoo (Loir-et-Cher), was "put in contact" eight times on Saturday with her male companion Yuan Zi, the zoo announced in a statement.
During the meetings in "night lodges", the two pandas were "cooperative and rather active".
Yuan Zi was "more comfortable with approaches and matings than in previous years", and the female, who is in heat, was "very interested".
One of the main attractions of Beauval Zoo
The female panda is fertile only 24 to 48 hours per year.
For several weeks, the warning signs of heat had intensified: markings on the ground, hormonal changes, vocalizations, etc.
The two pandas, 12 years old and one of the main attractions of Beauval Zoo, have been placed at eight regular intervals in the same lodge since this Saturday noon to mate, under the watchful eye of veterinarians and caretakers.
However, there is no indication that Huan Huan will be impregnated, even if the veterinary team considers "the matings to be quite good".
“Our male has made progress compared to last year!
He knows more about it, ”said Baptiste Mulot, chief veterinarian.
"Many high-pitched vocalizations for her and more hoarse grunts for him punctuated the various lovemaking, which is normal and a good sign," said the press release.
"Normally all the chances are on our side"
As a precaution, artificial insemination was also performed around 1 a.m.
Veterinarians specializing in breeding exotic animals have been dispatched from Germany to carry out the operation, which requires briefly putting the pandas to sleep to collect semen and for insemination.
"Everything went very well, the seed is of very good quality, normally all the chances are on our side," said Baptiste Mulot.
If fertilization is successful, embryonic development stops at the egg stage, allowing the expectant mother to store fat.
This can last a few weeks or a few months, with female pandas having the ability, extremely rare in the animal kingdom, to stop the development of the fetus.
This is the so-called “diapause” period.
A priori, development then resumes for a real gestation that lasts between 4 to 6 weeks.
But if fertilization fails, pseudo-gestational behavior can manifest itself in the same way as true gestation.
An ultrasound every week
“We will perhaps know within 15 days if there has been fertilization.
Then we will not be able to definitively know if there is a baby unless Huan Huan develops gestational behaviors, namely an animal which sleeps more and more, which eats less and less, which isolates itself ”, specified the chief veterinarian, adding that an ultrasound follow-up was scheduled every week.
On August 4, 2017, Huan Huan gave birth to Yuan Meng, the first panda born in France, the result of artificial insemination.
He is due to return to China in 2021 and is about the size of his mother.
Since 2016, giant pandas are no longer "in danger" of extinction on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
However, the species remains "vulnerable".
About 500 pandas in captivity and 2,000 in the wild live in China.
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