Panda not pregnant

Forgot to add a couple of links.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22207042

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-22238457

In the wild, she would mate with several lucky males when she hit her oestrogen peak. By doing AI as well as YG (Yang Guang) they are hoping to replicate this behaviour. Maybe the first insemination primes her sytem to be more successful to subsequent ones - I don't know enough about the mechanics.

If YG does not succeed all is not lost if they have done the AI.

I would be interested to know whether they sedate her for it - they have trained her with treats to lie down with her legs up against the bars of a "side room" to her indoor quarters so that they can take swabs to check hormone levels, but I am not sure how she would welcome a speculum and syringe!

I suppose pandas are a kind of poster animal for the whole conservation bit. They are so iconic that it is "if we can't put some effort into saving these, what hope has anything else?"

I find it very interesting that there is another back-and-white mammal, about the same size, vegetarian, forest-dwelling, found only in a limited part of the world, whose habitat is at threat from human needs, and whose numbers both in the wild and in captivity are roughly comparable to pandas.

The Malaysian tapir lives in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia, comparatively close to where the pandas live in China, but they don't have the Chinese government lobbying for their survival, so no-one knows about them.

Still no blue links. Sorry.

Forgot to add a couple of links.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22207042

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-22238457

and will add:-

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22207042

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-22238457

They don't have the anthropomorphic appeal of pandas do they. Thinking about it it's very clever of the WWF to use the panda . Yes; I have a fondness for tapirs .

The tapirs are endearing creatures - but they don't sit back and hold bamboo in their hands to chomp it.

Think we need to have a word with them, Elegran! By the way, that Bill Bailey programme tonight looks good; think he was filming in Malaysia.

Tapirs can be naughty - I've seen one pee backwards to drench the people looking at it through the railings...

We make such a fuss about certain species but over 99% of all species that have ever lived have become extinct and just about all of that had nothing whatever to do with human beings. It will happen again. And again. And again.

Pandas.... shrug. Classic example of a species that has evolved into too narrow a niche to remain viable in a competitive world.

However, I'm sure there is much to be learned in trying to save the species.

Elegran - or a turkey baster! Maybe they have trained her to do it herself?

This thread title reminded me of the headlines in my daughter's local paper - 'Richmond man falls off bike - not injured'.

Apparently they have whipped the turkey baster out and pandaess has bin.....basted!!

Some favourite headlines:
Village hall not open yet
Missing parakeet found dead
and
Gwent piglet happy at home

laidback

Seems she might be pregnant now, the panda in Edinburgh, but they won't be sure until the birth, if any, happens. Even then it is difficult to tell because the baby is not much bigger than a mouse. . Think she will not need an epidural.