Two giant pandas who have lived together for 13 years in a Hong Kong zoo finally mated this week, The New York Times reported.
The coupling of Ying Ying and Le Le, both 14 years old, was a reason for joy in the field of animal conservation because it raised hopes that the number of the vulnerable species might be about to increase.
Pandas are known to rarely seek to mate, with females receptive and fertile for only 24 to 72 hours each year, meaning a male has to wait a full year to try and mate if he misses that slim opportunity.
The animal’s difficulty in reproducing has helped lead to the small number of the species, with the World Wide Fund for Nature estimating in 2014 that there were only 1,864 giant pandas left in the wild.
The mating occurred without the massive crowds that are usually at the Ocean Park amusement park and zoo, which has been closed since Jan. 26 as Hong Kong took extensive measures against the spread of the coronavirus.
“Since Ying Ying and Le Le’s arrival in Hong Kong in 2007 and attempts at natural mating since 2010, they unfortunately have yet to succeed until this year upon years of trial and learning,” Ocean Park’s Michael Boos told the Times. “The successful natural mating process today is extremely exciting for all of us, as the chance of pregnancy via natural mating is higher than by artificial insemination.”
However, it will take a while to know if there will be a successful birth, as the gestation period is from 72 to 324 days, and ultrasound scans can’t detect a cub until 14 to 17 days before birth, the zoo said.
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