Two beloved residents of Edinburgh Zoo will be leaving the capital after failing to breed.
The pair of pandas have failed to breed since they arrived in Scotland over ten years ago and experts have admitted romantic feelings between the couple failed to blossom.
As the Mirror reports, male Yang Guang and female Tian Tian, also known as 'Sweetie', have been together in Edinburgh since 2011 and zoo keepers had to resort to artificial insemination since 2013.
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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.
Chief Executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, David Field, said it was "hugely disappointing" not to be greeted with a baby panda - and admits it's unlikely Yang Guang and Tian Tian 'would have matched on Tinder'.
He said: "It’s hugely disappointing. Baby pandas are just beautiful. They are exquisite, they are endearing, they are glorious.
"They are one of the most fantastic ambassadors for people falling back in love with nature."
Speaking to the Telegraph, he added: "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.
"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."
The pandas, Yang Guang and Tian Tian, travelled to Scotland following a ten-year arrangement was agreed on with the China Wildlife Conservation association, it was then given a two-year extension from 2021 - 2023.
However, after failing to mate. the pair are set to return to China in October this year and will be replaced another 'exciting' species at Edinburgh Zoo.
Experts explain that it is very difficult to tell if a panda is pregnant as foetuses 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.
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.
"It's really difficult to detect the presence of the uterus and to see in the uterus the presence of a fetus."
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