*** Panda News, Panda News ***

Panda Tian Tian Expecting, Says Edinburgh Zoo

The zoo says the signs are there but it will not know the outcome for certain until - and if - Tian Tian actually gives birth.

It looks as though Tian Tian the panda is pregnant and may give birth at the end of this month, Edinburgh Zoo says.

The female half of the panda duo - Yang Guang is the male - is spending more and more time asleep, according to officials.

They have been watching her since she was artificially inseminated on April 13.

http://news.sky.com/story/1317351/panda-tian-tian-expecting-says-edinburgh-zoo

....and in other Panda News today

'Miracle' Panda Triplets Born In China Zoo

The giant panda mother is said to be exhausted after delivering three cubs at the Chimelong Safari Park in the country's south.

Staff at the Chimelong Safari Park in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou described the triple-birth as a miracle, given the panda's extremely low reproductive rate.

According to the China Conservation and Research Centre, giant panda Juxiao - whose name translates as smiling chrysanthemum - gave birth to three cubs on Tuesday, July 29.

http://news.sky.com/story/1317302/miracle-panda-triplets-born-in-china-zoo

How cute is that smiling panda cub, I'm in love

Verrrrry...

Pandas do not make very good moms. But I guess the cubs will have enough attention. Gd luck to them.

Original Quill wrote:Verrrrry...

Pandas do not make very good moms.  But I guess the cubs will have enough attention.  Gd luck to them.

Hope they'll be ok Quill, gorgeous x

The one on the left is Super cute      

I love Pandas, but those baby ones are just sooooo not cute!!!!

I love them and want them ALL.......NOW

Pandas can resort to cunning, to get more buns, experts say

A giant panda has been accused of faking signs of pregnancy after learning she would be given five-star treatment - with plenty of extra buns.

Ai Hin got her Chinese keepers all excited after showing signs she was pregnant, including moving less and initially having a smaller appetite.

The keepers at Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre were so thrilled they even prepared to film the birth.

Tests, however, have now revealed that Ai Hin was never pregnant and experts believe she may have been putting on an act.

Previously, the giant panda is believed to have been moved into a single room with air conditioning when pregnant.

"They also receive more buns, fruits and bamboo, so some clever pandas have used this to their advantage to improve their quality of life," Wu Kongju, an expert told China's state news agency Xinhua.

Experts believed the bear may have learned to fake the signs of pregnancy after associating them with being pampered.

The giant panda's natural habitat is in the mountainous southwest of China.

The bears have a notoriously low reproductive rate and are suffering because of changing factors such as habitat loss.

China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild and another 300 held in captivity.

"Only 24% of females in captivity give birth, posing a serious threat to the survival of the species," Xinhua said.

http://news.sky.com/story/1325643/panda-may-have-faked-pregnancy-for-buns

What a shame she's not pregnant but what a clever panda

Sounds like something Cass would do for pork, bacon, sausages etc

hmmmmm I never thought about that before........gives food for thought as it were

Cass wrote:hmmmmm I never thought about that before........gives food for thought as it were

I "thanked" you, brilliant.  I'm picturing you with a pillow strategically placed x

feelthelove wrote:

Cass wrote:hmmmmm I never thought about that before........gives food for thought as it were

I "thanked" you, brilliant.  I'm picturing you with a pillow strategically placed x

it would have to be a pillow cause that ship has sailed.........

Cass wrote:

feelthelove wrote:

I "thanked" you, brilliant.  I'm picturing you with a pillow strategically placed x

it would have to be a pillow cause that ship has sailed.........

I'm sure you could pull it off xxx

What does she do when she reaches full term?

Go to Panda Maternity Ward and steal one?

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/court-papers-woman-faked-pregnancy-stole-baby

Original Quill wrote:What does she do when she reaches full term?

Go to Panda Maternity Ward and steal one?

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/court-papers-woman-faked-pregnancy-stole-baby

I doubt she's thought it through Quill, it's all about the buns!

feelthelove wrote:

Cass wrote:

it would have to be a pillow cause that ship has sailed.........

I'm sure you could pull it off xxx

well if I end up in jail or in hospital suffering from an overdose of bacon just know that its all your fault xx

feelthelove wrote:

Original Quill wrote:What does she do when she reaches full term?

Go to Panda Maternity Ward and steal one?

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/court-papers-woman-faked-pregnancy-stole-baby

I doubt she's thought it through Quill, it's all about the buns!

Pandas weaving webs of deceit.

Original Quill wrote:

feelthelove wrote:

I doubt she's thought it through Quill, it's all about the buns!

Pandas weaving webs of deceit.  

I still adore the naughty bears xxx

Forgive her, she didn't mean it Quill

feelthelove wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Pandas weaving webs of deceit.  

I still adore the naughty bears xxx

Forgive her, she didn't mean it Quill

Phew I thought for a minute he was talking about me.....

Cass wrote:

feelthelove wrote:

I still adore the naughty bears xxx

Forgive her, she didn't mean it Quill

Phew I thought for a minute he was talking about me.....

Aww, you'd make a lovely panda Mummy    x

Look at her eyes.

'WTF...who put this baby in my lap?!'

Original Quill wrote:Look at her eyes.

'WTF...who put this baby in my lap?!'

They are gorgeous aren't they Quill x

Yep. Quite cute.

The giant panda Tian Tian may have lost her cub late in her pregnancy, dashing hopes that a panda could be born in Britain for the first time.

Tests on the animal carried out at Edinburgh Zoo have yielded “atypical” results that suggest she may have suffered a miscarriage.

Experts had hoped Tian Tian would give birth this weekend after she was artificially inseminated on April 13. Scans conducted last month confirmed she was pregnant with a cub.

But after her due date passed without incident, the zoo now fears Tian Tian has suffered her second miscarriage in under a year.

Iain Valentine, director of giant pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said the latest test results were “bad news”.

So sad

awwww not good at all

that is very sad

China: Scientists decode panda 'language'

Scientists in China have worked out the meaning of 13 different giant panda vocalisations, it's reported.

During a five-year study at a conservation centre in the south-western Sichuan province, researchers found that male pandas baa like a sheep when courting a mate, and females respond with a bird-like chirp or twitter if they're keen, the Xinhua news agency reports. "Trust me - our researchers were so confused when we began the project, they wondered if they were studying a panda, a bird, a dog, or a sheep," says Zhang Hemin, head of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, which ran the study.

Panda cubs make a "wow-wow" sound to indicate they're unhappy, and say "gee-gee" to alert their mother that they're hungry, the report says. Staff at the centre recorded the animals in a variety of scenarios, including when they were eating, fighting and nursing young, and then studied their voiceprints. Mr Zhang says that understanding how pandas communicate will help conservationists to protect the endangered animals, particularly in the wild. The centre is even hoping to invent a "panda translator" using voice-recognition technology, Xinhua adds.

There are just over 1,800 giant pandas left in the wild, and they are found only in China. More than 300 are living in captivity in conservation centres and zoos around the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-34733258