After eight years of no babies, Hong Kong pandas Ying Ying and Le Le could be sent home to find new mates, as experts wonder if lack of sexual chemistry is to blame
- Experts discuss idea of returning animals to Wolong National Nature Reserve
- Female Ying Ying has already made the journey once, in 2015
Two popular giant pandas in Hong Kong who have not had a baby for eight years could be returned to Sichuan province for breeding if they fail to conceive again.
Mainland China experts said sending Ying Ying and Le Le back to Sichuan, where they were born, would offer more potential mates, with 451 captive pandas there.
Matthias Li Sing-chung, CEO of Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, revealed in Sichuan that the theme park and mainland experts were discussing whether to transfer the two pandas to the province to mate. It would be the second time Ying Ying has been sent home for that purpose, after a previous trip in 2015.
Since arriving at the park as a gift from Beijing almost 12 years ago, the 13-year-old giant pandas have not been able to reproduce. Their first mating season was in 2011, when they were five years old.
“Ying Ying and Le Le have started their oestrus [breeding season]. Under this circumstance, no matter what the discussion result is, I think the chance of sending them back is very low,” Li said in Sichuan on a visit to which the media were invited, adding that the mating season normally ended in May.