Edinburgh Zoo artificially inseminates panda

Dr Sanya Aggarwal carries panda urine on a bus everyday across Edinburgh, to help impregnate the local zoo's panda.

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Pandas are infamously bad at procreating, and after Edinburgh Zoo's female panda, Chan Chan, rejected her mate the keepers have decided to try and take matters into their own hands.

"We measure the hormone levels in the urine samples and that basic goal is to be able to know when ovulation is going to happen, so we can time the artificial insemination or natural mating," Dr Aggarwal told BBC's James Cook.

But Edinburgh Zoo will not know whether their artificial insemination has been a success until Chan Chan has an ultrasound in several months' time.


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1 min read
Published 22 April 2013 1:09pm
Updated 26 August 2013 10:48am
Source: SBS, BBC

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