Zoo ATL sets the city on official Giant Panda Pregnancy Watch

embed-1It's the most wonderful time of year, y'all — giant panda artificial insemination time! Vet techs performed AI on Zoo Atlanta's 18-year-old Lun Lun last night, according to a press release. "The teams opted to employ AI when hormonal and behavioral indicators suggested that Lun Lun had entered her species’ critically brief window of fertility," the same release reads.

Breeding in captivity is already tough, add to that the fact giant pandas are fertile only two or three days a year; a time Zoo Atlanta's VP of Animal Divisions, Hayley Murphy, calls "an ephemeral period of fertility." Despite 17 years of "association" Lun Lun and Zoo ATL's similarly aged male giant panda, Yang Yang, have yet to naturally coalesce for adult romantic relations. And this year was no different. Can't blame either animal, TBH — not everyone is an exhibitionist. Plus, like, heaven forbid Yang Yang is Team Gucci to Lun Lun's Team Jeezy. Experts had to enter the scene (again) to make sure this endangered species doesn't altogether disappear. Lun Lun and Yang Yang's current spread of five offspring are all products of AI.

“Given Zoo Atlanta’s long-term investment in this endangered species, and given the success of our giant panda program thus far, we are hopeful that Lun Lun, who has proven herself to be an outstanding mother, will once again be able to bring a new addition to a population of animals that have become global icons for the conservation of wildlife and wild places," Murphy says.
embed-2If everything goes according to plan, Lun Lun should give birth to another cub this summer. To make up for that short window of fertility (maybe), giant pandas' gestation period is similarly brief, hovering around 90 to 160 days.

Just to catch up, Lun Lun and Yang Yang's family of panda babies and panda teens (the oldest is six! Surely that's teenage status in panda years) have the following names: Mei Lan, Xi Lan, Po, Mei Lun, and Mei Huan. The first three currently live at China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The latter two are twins, both born in 2013 and still crashing with their 'rents at Zoo Atlanta (how embarrassing). No word on prospective names for this hopeful forthcoming bear child, but I'm personally pulling for Ephemeral Fertility (and should they pass, please consider this the name of my new post-punk panda wave outfit. We need a drummer. Apply within).

Expert estimates suggest fewer than 1,900 giant pandas still live in China's wilderness with about 1,200 of those existing inside nature preserves, making Zoo Atlanta's efforts that much more valuable. 

Fingers crossed Lun Lun's AI went swimmingly (sorry) last night. Stay tuned for updates via Zoo Atlanta's Twitter, among other channels. And check in on the hopeful sixth-time mother via important hashtags on Instagram because, well, why not?