Strollerderby : Mei Xiang

National Zoo Inseminates Panda

Shannon LC Cate — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:58:00 GMT

If you've ever charted your ovulation to find the perfect time to try "competent mating" you know how nerve-wracking it can be to figure out how all the signs add up.

Imagine being a hopeful panda mom. Pandas are believed to ovulate only once a year, leading to one single day out of roughly 365 on which they might conceive.

After trying to mate for most of last Thursday, the panda couple at the National Zoo were put to sleep so the zoo keepers could help nature along by taking semen directly from male panda, Tian Tian and inserting it directly into female panda, Mei Xiang's uterus.

Now the two-week wait! But, wait. For a panda, that wait is more like 90 to 185 days. Somewhere in there--no one knows for sure--is the proper gestation period for a baby panda. And because pandas are prone to false pregnancies--in which all the signs are there, but a baby is not--all zoo keepers can do is separate the hopeful mom and dad for six months and see if a baby arrives.

I'm hoping right along with them that one does, but I have to say, with a mating routine like that, is it any wonder pandas are such a critically endangered species?

Photo: The National Zoo

The Panda Might Be Knocked Up

Jen Chaney — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:02:00 GMT

How much would it suck if human pregnancies worked like panda ones?

Mei Xiang, the possible panda mama at Washington D.C.'s National Zoo, might be pregnant. Zoo officials detected a rise in her progestin levels, which is a sign that she could be carrying another baby panda -- she gave birth to Tai Shan back in 2005 -- but not necessarily.

See, pandas can apparently have pseudo-pregnancies, which, according to this Washington Post story, involve "physical, hormonal and behavioral changes that mimic the real thing" even though no fetus has developed. So she gets to suffer from morning sickness, mood swings and all sorts of other unpleasantries for nothing? And no one can even tell she's pregnant so everyone just thinks she's Bitchy Panda for no reason? That's just not right.

To make matters worse, if she actually is with-panda, it's very possible no one will know for certain until she gives birth in mid- to late-July; apparently, panda fetuses develop so quickly that pregnancies often are not confirmed until the little one is almost here. Translation: No shower for Mei Xiang!

Still, the payoff is worth it. Look how cute Tai Shan was when he was a baby.

Image: Cottontimer.com