Memphis, Tenn. – The Memphis Zoo is hoping a few days of privacy will include a magic moment between its giant pandas.
The panda exhibit was closed for 72 hours beginning Thursday to give Ya Ya and Le Le some time to mate.
A female panda has only three days a year to conceive, according to Matt Thompson, the curator of the zoo’s mammal wing.
The two have been placed together during previous mating periods although officials didn’t hope for much because the male was too young to mate, he said.
This time, zookeepers will try artificial insemination if the mating isn’t successful, Thompson said. They won’t, however, be showing any “panda porn” mating videos to the bears, as some zoos in China have tried to encourage coupling.
“This is a family zoo,” Thompson joked.
Ya Ya is registering high estrogen levels and is restless, irritable and grumpy – all symptoms of fertility, Thompson said, while Le Le has higher-than-usual levels of testosterone.
