TOKYO: A mating pair of pandas have wasted no time in getting intimate, a Japanese zoo said yesterday, coupling on their first evening together and then again the next morning. The female Shin Shin and her companion Ri Ri were put in a private enclosure on Monday evening after keepers at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo noticed they were ready to mate.
“We have confirmed Shin Shin and Ri Ri mated on Monday evening and yesterday morning,” Hidetoshi Kurotori, an official at the zoo’s education and information division, said. “Things are moving ahead smoothly.” Kazuomi Nishikiori, director of education and information at Ueno Zoo, declared himself delighted with the animals’ progress. “I think the first step went very well.
We feel relieved. We are extremely happy,” he said. Pandas, whose natural habitat lies in mountainous southwestern China, have a notoriously low reproductive rate and are under pressure from factors such as habitat loss. China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild.
Tokyo zoo: Mating pandas off to good start
