It’s that time of the year again for Ocean Park’s beloved pandas.
Hong Kong Ocean Park announced Thursday that Giant Panda Adventure will be temporarily closed until further notice as Ying Ying and Le Le, the park’s iconic mascots, enter their annual breeding season.
The 15-year-old pandas have been leaving scent marks around their habitat, the park says, and Ocean Park’s veterinary team confirms that Ying Ying—who has been playing in water more and seen her appetite decrease—is in her oestrous cycle. (That’s code for feeling a little frisky.)
Le Le, too, is “searching for Ying Ying’s olfactory cues,” the park’s press release states.
The pressure’s on for the panda couple this season. After trying to mate naturally since 2011, the pair finally succeeded last April, thanks to the privacy that the prolonged COVID-induced closure afforded the lovebirds.
Read more: Ocean Park’s pandas mate naturally for the first time after 10-year dry spell
Unfortunately though, Ocean Park confirmed in September that Ying Ying did not get a bun in the oven.
With the closure of the attraction, perhaps the peace and quiet will grant Ying Ying and Le Le another successful mating season—although it’s probably best not to get too excited.
According to Scientific American, there is “perhaps no mammal that is less often in the mood for sex than the female giant panda.” In fact, these black-and-white bears are often considered asexual as they rarely reproduce offspring in captivity.
Still, if they’ve done it once, they can do it again—or so we’d like to hope. Our fingers are crossed in the meantime.
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