Breeding giant pandas isn’t easy.
Breeding giant pandas isn’t easy.
First off, the window of opportunity for conception is only one to two days a year. If sperm and egg don’t meet during this time, it means waiting another year to try. Second, female pandas are picky about potential fathers. In the case of Er Shun, the female panda at the Calgary Zoo, breeding with the male Da Mao was a no-go.
“She doesn’t like him,” laughs Dr. Doug Whiteside, DVM, associate professor of conservation medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) at the University of Calgary and senior veterinarian at the Calgary Zoo. “It’s been tried in the past at the Toronto Zoo and she had no interest in him.”
So, artificial insemination was planned — with cryopreserved sperm from two giant pandas in China, deemed to be genetically good dads. Then it was a matter of time, patience, and lots of urine samples to determine the perfect time to artificially inseminate Er Shun.
Continue reading at University of Calgary.
Image via University of Calgary.
