National Zoo/Devin Murphy
The National Zoo conducted an artificial inseminatiom procedure on the female giant panda Mei Xiang, the first attempt to get her pregnant since the death last September of a week-old cub. Zoo veterinarians and panda researchers reported earlier this week that Mei Xiang was in estrus, showing elevated hormone levels, and ready to breed.
"Spring has sprung," a zoo press release begins. However, the same could not be said for male giant panda Tian "Weakly Loaded" Tian. Once again, the two pandas were unsuccessful at natural breeding, extending Tian Tian's reputation as a "clueless breeder with flawed technique."
Mei Xiang was put under general anesthesia this morning and inseminated by a team of veterinarians from both the National Zoo and China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Doctors used a batch of semen composed of a sample collected from Tian Tian this morning and a frozen sample collected in 2003. The zoo says Mei Xiang may undergo a second procedure this afternoon.
"We are hopeful that our breeding efforts will be successful this year, and we’re encouraged by all the behaviors and hormonal data we’ve seen so far," Dave Wildt, head of the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, says in the zoo release.
As with all panda reproduction efforts, it will be some time until the zoo knows if it will again be successful at artificially inseminating Mei Xiang. Because panda fetuses do not start developing until the final weeks of a 95- to 160-day gestation, researchers say hormone levels and behaviors have no bearing on whether Mei Xiang is actually pregnant, or experiencing a pseudopregnancy. The birth of the cub last year came as a surprise.
The panda exhibit was closed Tuesday after Mei Xiang was found to be ready for breeding. It is scheduled to reopen tomorrow.
