Pandas Have Trouble Mating

Zookeepers watched disappointedly as two giant pandas at the Smithsonian's National Zoo attempted to mate with no success.

After the animals failed to conceive naturally, zoo staff intervened and artificially inseminated an adult female named Mei Xiang (May Shee-ong) March 19.

Giant pandas have only one chance to breed all year — a one- to two-day window in which a female panda is fertile. Since the zoo's pandas failed to successfully mate naturally, zoo staff stepped in to take advantage of this year's chance to produce a baby panda. They collected sperm from male Tian Tian (tee-yen tee-yen) and inserted it directly into Mei Xiang's uterus.

If the insemination is successful, the female panda is expected to give birth in the next 90 to 185 days.

This year's breeding cycle is similar to that of 2005, when scientists performed an artificial insemination after natural mating attempts between the same two bears proved unsuccessful. That led to cub Tai Shan (tie-shon), who was born July 9, 2005. He will remain at the National Zoo until some time after his fourth birthday, when he will be sent to a giant panda preserve in China.

Photo Credit: Jessie Cohen/Smithsonian’s National Zoo

• Video: Catch a Panda
• Gallery: World's Biggest Beasts
• Animal Sex: No Stinking Rules