Love-shy panda artificially inseminated

Britain's only female giant panda, Tian Tian, has been artificiallyinseminated after failing to mate with her male partner Yang Guang, Edinburgh Zoosaid Tuesday.Experts had been hopeful the pair, donated by China in 2011, would mate thisbreeding season but Tian Tian's hormone levels plummeted before they had thechance. "Time restrictions meant we needed to move quickly to artificial insemination," saidIain Valentine, director of giant pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.The procedure took place on Sunday but it will not be clear whether Tian Tian ispregnant until she gives birth, which could be in August or September.Both pandas recovered quickly from the insemination process, with Yang Guangenjoying honey and bamboo 15 minutes later, the zoo said. Their enclosure willremain closed to the prying eyes of the public until Wednesday.Tian Tian, whose name means Sweetie, was also artificially inseminated last yearbut the zoo suffered a huge disappointment when she had a late-term miscarriage.This year, Valentine said that "from the start, when the pandas started to showbreeding behaviour early this spring, both were showing very positive signs."We were hopeful natural mating would occur this year, but in the end Tian Tian'shormones started to fall quickly, which meant her breeding window could be muchshorter."A Chinese expert was "confident" the pair would mate naturally but the zoo wentahead with artificial insemination using semen from Yang Guang, fearing that timewould run out.The zoo acquired Tian Tian and Yang Guang, whose name means Sunshine, fromChina in December 2011 but the pair have so far failed to mate.Pandas, whose natural habitat lies in mountainous southwestern China, have anotoriously low reproductive rate and are under pressure from factors such ashabitat loss. China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild. Their normal breeding season is mid-April to May.