Adelaide Zoo’s giant pandas fail to breed

It was back to the drawing board for Australian scientists on Monday after another breeding season for giant pandas failed to produce results at the Adelaide Zoo.

Wang Wang and Funi arrived in Australia on a decade-long loan from China in late 2009 and there were hopes of breeding the Southern Hemisphere’s first baby pandas.

Adelaide Zoo’s reproductive team was hoping it would be third time lucky for the cubless pair this year after two unsuccessful earlier seasons.

But both natural mating and artificial insemination appeared to have failed, with no pregnancy for 7-year-old Funi as the very short annual breeding period - typically just 48-72 hours a year - drew to a close.

“Panda breeding is extremely complex, mainly due to the very small window of opportunity that occurs for breeding each year,” said the zoo’s senior panda keeper Simone Davey.