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The " grim - and - white rock sensation " of the Smithsonian ’s National Zoo , distaff panda Mei Xiang , is go back tonight ( April 30 ) after being artificially inseminated with up to 800 million sperm .
This was the Washington , D.C.-based zoo ’s 2d try atinseminating the 13 - year - old panda , after a first attempt on Sunday when scientists influence the semen they had collected from the virile Tian Tian was n’t high enough timber for stilted insemination .
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian in 2008.
The scientists make up one’s mind to try this technological intervention in the first place after a lifelike attempt fell flat .
" Veterinarians performed an unreal insemination Sunday nighttime after they find no competent natural fosterage had occurred between Mei Xiang and male elephantine panda , Tian Tian ( tee - YEN tee - YEN ) , " zoo officials wrote in a statement . [ Video : Panda Mating Dance ]
And the zookeepers and experts live - pinch the personal panda outcome .
" Mei did great and there ’s a good sense of jubilation and accomplishment in the melodic line here!#pandaAI , " squeeze the National Zoo ’s Twitter account , @NationalZoo , this evening after the insemination was complete .
The two panda have successfully bred before — Mei Xiang ease up birthing to cub Tai Shan in 2005 — but they are n’t so good at get it on themselves ( Tai Shan was conceived via artificial insemination ) .
Furthermore , distaff pandas are fertile only one to two days a year , so zookeepers had to seize the uncommon chance .
For today ’s artificial insemination , zookeepers used sperm from Tian Tian harvested back when Tai Shan was born .
Just carrying Mei Xiang into the surgery room was a feat . " The keeper and veterinary surgeon are carrying Mei on a tarp now with handles . It takes 8 people — she weighs about 230 lbs . , " the zoo tweeted .
" While under general anaesthesia , Mei Xiang was sow with thawed semen collected from Tian Tian in 2005 , " zoo officials wrote . They bestow , " Zoo stave will retain to monitor Mei Xiang ’s endocrine stratum in the coming months and conduct sonography to see if she is meaning . " ( But even figuring out if a female lesser panda is pregnant can be cunning ; it is often difficult to identify a panda foetus through an ultrasound . And female colossus coon bear , inlcuding Mei Xiang , on a regular basis undergopseudo - pregnancies , which mime the real matter to a tee , sans the developing infant . )
Captive breeding programs like this one serve as a master part of scientists ' attempt to hit the books and conserve the specie ; jumbo bear cat , native to southeasternChina , northern Myanmar , and northern Vietnam , are now endanger with only 1,600 left in the natural state .
Plus , baby pandasare oh - so - precious , and introduce a big haul for any zoo . The National Zoo had to send out Tai Shan back to China in 2010 , because all pandas , no matter of where they are born , formally belong to China under external law of nature . Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are on loan to the United States until 2015 .
