The only breeding pair of giant pandas in the UK, Yang Guang (Sunshine) and Tian Tian (Sweetie), will depart for China after 12 years, informed Scotland’s Edinburg Zoo on Wednesday. Before the pair departs later this year, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) informed AFP that it will throw them a ‘grand farewell’ at the zoo.
In December 2011, as part of a 10-year agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, Yang Guang and Tian Tian came at the Edinburgh Zoo. The two were supposed to give birth to a cub, but the authorities quickly realised they weren’t interested in reproducing.
In 2013, they tried to artificially inseminate Tian Tian, but they failed. After receiving treatment for testicular cancer, Yang Guang was later castrated.
Yang Guang and Tian Tian, whose loan was renewed two years ago, may be able to return to China as early as the end of October 2023, said the zoo officials.
The panda couple gained so much notoriety that a unique tartan was designed in their honour, with red to signify China and black, white, and grey to reflect their fur.
According to RZSS CEO David Field, the two have had a ‘tremendous influence’ and have helped millions of people interact with nature.
Giant Pandas are difficult to breed in captivity because they either lose interest in mating naturally or are unable to do so. The conservation organisation Pandas International claims that a female panda only experiences one oestrous cycle in the spring, during which she is fertile for just 24 to 36 hours.
Along the Tibetan Plateau in southwest China, pandas can be found in the wild. The number of wild Giant Pandas is currently believed to be 1,864, but it has been declining. There are roughly 600 pandas kept in captivity in zoos, wildlife parks, and panda centres across the world.
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