MEXICO: Zoo struggles with another failure to impregnate panda returned from Japan

Record ID: 303513

  • Title: MEXICO: Zoo struggles with another failure to impregnate panda returned from Japan
  • Date: 8th October 2005
  • Summary: (L!WE)MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (SEPTEMBER 29, 2005)(REUTERS) BANNER READS 'WELCOME SHUAN-SHUAN'; PANDA HOUSE SHUAN-SHUAN WITH BAMBOO; CAGE IN WHICH SHUAN-SHUAN TRAVELED TO MEXICO; ZOO NUTRITIONIST PREPARES SHUAN-SHUAN'S MEAL; SHUAN-SHUAN WALKING IN HER AREA; SHUAN-SHUAN SLEEPING
  • Embargoed: 23rd October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Nature / Environment,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAQ1ED802CSS9WI4J2TYOXVJ9F
  • Story Text: Mexico City zoo panda, "Shuan-Shuan," is resting Thursday (September 29) after arriving from Tokyo's Ueno Zoo where she had been on loan for two years.
    Zoo keepers here lament that although the 18 year old, 287 pound bear went into heat three times while in Tokyo and was artificially inseminated with Japan's male panda "Ling-Ling's" sperm she failed to conceive.
    Mexico's Chapultepec Zoo had entered into a panda reproduction program with the San Diego Zoo and the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. There are three resident pandas at the Mexican zoo, all female.
    ""We always think that when there is a female and a male there will be offspring. Something that is important is that the specimens be compatible. The attraction that one has for the other is something else that's important," said the Director of Mexico City's zoo, Dr. Rafael Tinjero. "Unfortunately, in the case of Giant Pandas like Ling-Ling, not all males are reproducers."
    Chapultepec Zoo has a stock of Ling-Ling's semen which biologists here hope will achieve the desired results and eventually produce a baby panda in Mexico.
    Ling Ling has visited the Mexico City zoo three times but every attempt at artificial insemination or natural reproduction has failed.
    There are 160 pandas in captivity throughout the world, only 800 - 1,000 survive in the wild. ENDS.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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