英国熊猫“夫妻”首次交配不成功

Song · 发表于 2012-4-5 19:16:33

去年11月底抵达英国苏格兰的两只中国大熊猫阳光和甜甜没能掌握难得的首次交配时机。

现在住在苏格兰爱丁堡动物园的这两只熊猫，原先因为适应情况不错，因此专家希望能够趁今年甜甜发情的时候，能够让它们交配产仔。

管理人员为此特别在阳光和甜甜圈养区之间开通了一条“爱的通道”，希望能够为交配成功加把力。

在甜甜这只雌熊猫确定发情之后，有36个小时的受孕“窗口”。

管理人员让甜甜和阳光在一天之内见了5次面，每次见面5分钟，但是没出现任何交配动作。

动物园的发言人虽然说，它们显示了“令人感到鼓励”的迹象、阳光爬上了甜甜的后背，两只熊猫开始“纠缠”。

据说，甜甜也“情意深深地呼唤”阳光，并且试图推开阻隔彼此的栅栏。

但是两只熊猫并没有真正的交配，现在动物园关闭了可以让人通过互联网实时观看阳光和甜甜的“熊猫视频”。

不过期待它们交配成功，俨然已经形成热潮。

这次是阳光和甜甜首次见面，动物园方面说，经过荷尔蒙测试和过去几个星期的行为观察，专家认为现在是他们“夫妻配对”的最佳时机。

Song · 发表于 2012-4-5 19:17:33

英国的一些大报还在今天刊登了爱丁堡动物园大熊猫甜甜和阳光交配未成功的消息。
《卫报》的报道说，阳光和甜甜错过了最佳的交配时机，要想怀孕只好再等待12个月了。
报道说，爱丁堡动物园所发表的一份简短的声明称，双方很亲密，但却没有火花。
文章说，雌性大熊猫一年只有三天的发情期，错过了就需要再等一年。
《每日电讯报》以拟人的调侃说，“亲爱的，我没情绪，明年再试吧”。
报道说，尽管阳光和甜甜表现出所有要交配的迹象，但还是没有跨过最后的一道槛。
文章说，雄性大熊猫阳光似乎很想交配，但甜甜有点“烦了”。

Song · 发表于 2012-4-5 19:20:58

原文来自《卫报》：http://www.guardian.co.uk/enviro ... pandas-fail-to-mate

Giant pandas fail to mate

End to one of the most eagerly hyped trysts in conservation history announced with a short statement: 'close but no cigar'

Staff at Edinburgh zoo have announced that their giant pandas, Yang Guang and Tian Tian, had failed to mate. Photograph: David Moir/Reuters

The unsuccessful end to one of the briefest but most eagerly hyped trysts in conservation history was announced with a short statement from Edinburgh zoo: their giant pandas had failed to mate. The press release headline said simply: close but no cigar.

It had started so well. The panda cams were switched off, the doors carefully locked to outsiders and the "love tunnel" opened. But in the end, despite repeated five-minute bouts of foreplay and coupling in the female's enclosure, Tian Tian and Yang Guang will have to wait another year.

It may have been the weight of expectation. Perhaps the love tunnel was too short. Whatever the reason, the window of opportunity for Edinburgh's pandas closed yesterday afternoon.

The female panda is fertile for only two or three days each year, usually at some time between March and May.

The bears were allowed a few extra trysts on Wednesday evening, but the zoo's experts were not optimistic that these last couplings would succeed. They had carefully built up hopes in advance, pointing out that both animals had produced offspring before. Tang Tang had even given birth to twins.

Despite increasingly amorous calls to each other, yearning glances, and paw– and muzzle-touching through the grille, the zoo's efforts to bring the bears together failed to bear fruit.

Downplaying their disappointment at failing to generate the UK's first panda cub, Iain Valentine, the zoo's director of conservation, said the pair would be in Edinburgh for 10 years – plenty of time for another go.

"Each time the pair met, we saw a huge amount of eagerness and attraction between Tian Tian and Yang Guang," he said. "At the end of the day, this is year one of a 10-year conservation project here at Edinburgh zoo. We are hugely encouraged by how much the natural sparks flew between the two animals, as, like humans, not all male and female pandas are attracted to each other. Both were keen to mate, but their inexperience showed. Baby cubs would have been a bonus this year, but we have to appreciate that the pandas have only just arrived and have had limited time to settle."

Since their arrival four months ago, the pandas have been kept in neighbouring enclosures separated by a small gate. The couple were loaned to the UK by China as a breeding pair for an annual fee of $1m (£626,400), and zoo staff, anxious not to miss their moment, have been keeping a close eye on Tian Tian's hormone count.

As her short mating season approached, they sampled her urine for rising oestrogen levels. The samples were sent to Chester zoo for testing.

The mating process has its critics. The Born Free Foundation, set up to honour George and Joy Adamson, who returned the captive Kenyan lioness Elsa to the wild, insists that panda breeding has minimal conservation value.

Will Travers, its director, said the animals were being used for economic and political purposes by the Chinese and UK governments.

"This is about rather crude trade relations at the expense of these animals," he said. "In the big picture on panda conservation, this will do nothing to protect their habitat."

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