AI @ Ocean Park Hong Kong
Ocean Park Hong Kong concluded this year’s panda mating season for giant pandas Ying Ying and Le Le on July 8, 2013 and re-opened the Giant Panda Adventure exhibit to the public on July 9, 2013. Ying Ying and Le Le had been put together for natural mating opportunities, but unfortunately no successful mating behaviors were observed. Ocean Park has also used Le Le’s semen to artificially inseminate Ying Ying at the peak of her estrus in hope of a pregnancy for her.
Fresh semen was successfully collected from Le Le and was used for the artificial insemination procedures on Ying Yingr. Compared to previous years which utilized a mixture of fresh and frozen semen, the abundant production and collection of fresh semen from Le Le this year enabled us to use 100% fresh samples for Ying Ying’s artificial insemination procedure this season.
Dr. Wang Chengdong, Director of Veterinary Service of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda in Wolong, said, “Both Ying Ying and Le Le are healthy and in very good condition. Although they are still relatively inexperienced and were therefore unable to mate naturally, we were fortunate to have collected fresh semen of good quality and quantity from Le Le, and the artificial insemination of Ying Ying was conducted very smoothly.”
