Pandas Seen Mating After 13 Years of Social Distancing

Now that every place in the world is on mandatory lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, many have also been practising social distancing. It has been confirmed and proved that the contamination of the novel virus happens in human and close contact, thus, many health officials across the world have announced that social distancing should be strictly implemented at all costs.

However, although it may be hard for everyone to adjust with the one-meter-apart rule, there is still good news that has brought this social distancing issue to some people.

13 years of social distancing

Many people have talked about the viral news about two pandas who finally mated after 13 years of playing hard to get with each other. 

The two pandas, named Le Le and Ying Ying, have been roommates at the Ocean Park Zoo since 2007. Ocean Park Zoo is a famous and tourist-studded place in Hong Kong. During that 13 years of being in the same room together, the two pandas did not feel the calling of nature for them to mate and reproduce.

Le Le and Ying Ying's mating was celebrated by the zoo's staff and everyone who have come to love them because it will only mean there is more chance for them to preserve their species from extinction. 

Pandas are becoming endangered day by day because of the climate change the world has been facing in recent years. Thus, it has been hard for them to survive and reproduce. That is why animal institutions together with zoos who have pandas are working together in keeping them safe and healthy to help save and preserve their bloodlines.

The two pandas are known to be a species of giant pandas. When giant pandas mate, they have a specific time frame as to when it will last. For female giant pandas, they have their mating season to follow. When female pandas take about 24 to 72 hours of fertility per year, they are considered to have a reputable, non-existent libido. 

When the zookeepers found out that Le Le and Ying Ying are feeling intimate with each other, they were thrilled and excited about it because it took them years for them to feel the urgency of mating. 13 years of waiting, in fact. 

According to the Ocean Park's director of Zoological Operations Michael Boos, he said that the two pandas Le Le and Ying Ying arrived in Hong Kong in 2007 and they have been attempting to mate naturally since 2010. However, despite all the attempts that the two pandas made with the help of the zookeepers' trial and training, it was all unsuccessful. 

Now that the two pandas are now naturally mating, it had all the zookeepers excited for the two, since the chance of getting the female panda pregnant via artificial insemination has less chance of getting pregnant compared to natural mating. 

The Ocean Park on lockdown

Considering that Hong Kong is also on national lockdown and has been closed to the public since January 26 when the coronavirus outbreak was in the country, the zookeepers and experts have concluded that the two pandas were able to find privacy from the tourists and guests. The lockdown was able to kindle intimacy and romance between the two pandas. 

As of now, the zookeepers are looking intently and will be monitoring Ying Ying closely to see if she was impregnated successfully.