03 January 2023 , 10:11
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Two famous Edinburgh zoo pandas will return to China after failing to breed with each other, with experts saying they wouldn't have matched on Tinder.
Male Yang Guang and female Tian Tian, also known as 'Sweetie' have been together in the Scottish city since 2011. Sweetie was mum to twins before she arrived in Scotland.
Romantic feelings between the creatures did not appear to blossom and zoo keepers had to resort to using artificial insemination since 2013.
Chief Executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, David Field, said it was "hugely disappointing" not to be greeted with a baby panda.
He said: "It’s hugely disappointing. Baby pandas are just beautiful. They are exquisite, they are endearing, they are glorious.
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Yang Guang had difficulty breeding with Tian Tian (PA)"They are one of the most fantastic ambassadors for people falling back in love with nature."
Breeding pandas is already notoriously difficult as female pandas only ovulate once every year.
Field told The Telegraph: "I think the biggest disappointment has been for Tian Tian, because that maternal cycle is really important for them as part of their natural behavioural repertoire – everything from all the hormonal cycles to the nest building to rearing."
Female pandas only ovulate once a year (PA)Field continued: "Sometimes animals just don’t get on. Genetically they were apparently an extremely good match but behaviourally, if it was Tinder, perhaps Tian Tian wouldn’t have swiped right if she had the choice.
"They are hugely emblematic, they are iconic for conservation and they make people smile with sheer abandonment."
Yang Guang was castrated in 2018 after it was discovered he had testicular cancer.
The panda pair is likely to return to China this year (Getty Images/iStockphoto)The pair came to Scotland after a ten-year arrangement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association was agreed upon, which was given a two-year extension from 2021 to 2023.
The pandas may now return to China in October this year.
It is very difficult to tell if a panda is pregnant as fetuses tend not to develop much in the uterus. A panda's abdomen has lots of complicated parts and bowels filled with food that may make it hard for vets to see what they are looking for.
Yang Guang was castrated in 2018 (Getty Images)Expert vet and Reproductive Physiologist with the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Pierre Comizzoli, told Vice: "They have really large abdomens that have a lot of bowels filled with bamboo fibre and stuff like that.
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"It's really difficult to detect the presence of the uterus and to see in the uterus the presence of a fetus."
Several attempts to get Tian Tian to breed have failed and Edinburgh Zoo was forced to announce in 2017 that she had failed to carry another pregnancy to term. It was the fifth attempt to get her to breed in Scotland.