Tian Tian, the female giant panda at Edinburgh, is believed to be pregnant and may give birth very soon, the city’s zoo has disclosed.



The news came to light in correspondence between Edinburgh zoo and the Scottish government written in late July, which suggested Tian Tian’s due date could be as soon as Friday 25 August.

The animal’s pregnancy follows four previous failed attempts to make her conceive. After efforts to make her mate naturally with her erstwhile partner at Edinburgh zoo, Yang Guang, ended in failure, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) turned to artificial insemination using his sperm and frozen samples from a bear which had lived and bred at Berlin zoo.

A spokeswoman for RZSS cautioned that there was no guarantee the pregnancy would lead to a successful live birth. On previous occasions, it is thought Tian Tian either absorbed a foetus or lost others.

“Giant panda breeding is a very complicated process but we believe that Tian Tian is pregnant,” she said. “Although a specific date was suggested, like all babies it’s hard to predict precisely and the panda breeding season can last until late September.

“Tian Tian is being closely monitored by our expert team and we will be the first to share any news as soon as we can.”



Her artificial insemination was attempted for a fifth time last spring after the zoo’s male panda, Yang Guang, was unreceptive to natural mating. The pair, the only giant pandas living in the UK, arrived on a 10-year loan from China in December 2011 to be welcomed by Nicola Sturgeon, the then deputy first minister, with the zoo paying the Chinese breeding centre $1m (£780,000) a year.

After the first attempted matings were given significant publicity, in part to drive up visitor numbers to the zoo, and then ended in failure, the RZSS has become more circumspect about volunteering information about the breeding efforts.

Meanwhile, other zoos around the world, including ones in Vienna and Atlanta in the United States, have announced numerous successful births for their pandas.



The Edinburgh Evening News reported that the private correspondence between the zoo and the Scottish government emerged after a freedom of information request.

In an email from Iain Valentine, director of giant pandas at the RZSS, dated 25 July 2017, he told officials: “TT [Tian Tian] doing real well. As things are at the moment, she seems on track but I have shifted possible birth date to around 25th August. Will be able to be a bit more precise in a week’s time.

“So she is about 30 days out now and pregnancy proper has now begun in what we think is a 37-day pregnancy.”

Earlier this month footage emerged of a zoo worker narrowly escaping from the panda’s enclosure after one of the animals unexpectedly came into the room. Identified by zoo workers as “a very serious near miss”, it provoked accusations the zoo is suffering from poor morale and a high turnover of staff.