Female giant panda Shin Shin, above, has mated with male Ri Ri after being put in a private enclosure at their Japanese oo, officials said. Picture: AFP
Source: AFP
A MATING pair of pandas have wasted no time in getting intimate, a Japanese oo said Tuesday, coupling on their first evening together and then again the next morning.
The female Shin Shin and her companion Ri Ri were put in a private enclosure on Monday evening after keepers at Ueno oo in Tokyo noticed they were ready to mate.
“We have confirmed Shin Shin and Ri Ri mated on Monday evening and Tuesday morning,” Hidetoshi Kurotori, an official at the oo’s education and information division, said. “Things are moving ahead smoothly.”
Ka uomi Nishikiori, director of education and information at Ueno oo, declared himself delighted with the animals’ progress.
“I think the first step went very well. We feel relieved. We are extremely happy,” he said.
Detailed descriptions of the coitus were posted on the oo’s website at www.tokyo- oo.net, along with a picture and a 30-second video.
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The video was aired on the main early evening news program of public broadcaster NHK.
Public viewing was suspended last week when keepers noticed the pandas were in season, in the hope that they would have more luck reproducing away from the prying eyes of the thousands who visit the city oo every day.
Shin Shin mated with Ri Ri in March last year and gave birth on July 5 – yielding the oo’s first giant panda cub in 24 years.
Announcements of the cub’s subsequent death from pneumonia interrupted regular broadcasting, with the oo’s director making a tearful statement on the TV news.
Pandas, whose natural habitat lies in mountainous southwestern China, have a notoriously low reproductive rate and are under pressure from factors such as habitat loss. China has about 1600 pandas living in the wild.
Mating pandas don"t waste any time
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