D.C. Pandas Can’t Conceive Naturally, Get Help

Sure, all anyone is talking about these days relating to Washington, D.C., is the inauguration, but there are other things going on in our nation’s capital. Like giant pandas trying to make babies. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, two giant panda’s at the National Zoo, tried to mate throughout the day last Thursday without success. “Because competent mating did not occur,” a statement from the zoo said, vets had to insert some of Tian Tian’s semen into Mei Xiang’s uterus. You might be thinking that these kids just need a few more days of love-making, but, unfortunately, scientists believe giant pants are able to conceive only one or two days a year. And while the couple have successfully given birth to one baby panda, in 2005, they weren’t so lucky in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008. We’ll know in 90 to 185 days whether Mei Xiang is going to give birth. [Washington Post]