Bearing up: Beauval Zoo's Huan Huan artificially inseminated after day of mating

Beauval Zoo's giant pandas Huan Huan and Yuan Zi were recovering on Sunday after an eight-session day of mating which ended with Huan Huan artificially inseminated.

Huan Huan, who  is on loan from China to the zoo in central France, was brought into contact  on Saturday with her male counterpart.

The two pandas were described as co-operative and rather active during their encounters in the same night box.

"Yuan Zi was more comfortable in approaches and mating than in previous years," said a zoo spokesperson.

The female panda is only fertile for between 24 and 48 hours a year. For several weeks before the sessions, Huan Huan had displayed signs of fertility such as the odour she was emitting and growling.

Development
"Yuan Zi has made progress compared to last year," said head vet Baptiste Mulot. "He knows how to do it better."

"Many high-pitched vocalisations from her and more hoarse grunts for him punctuated the various romps, which is normal and a good sign," the zoo spokesperson added.

 To increase the chances of another cub, a team from Germany specialising in the reproduction of exotic animals artificially inseminated Huan Huan.

  "Everything went very well, the semen is of very good quality, so normally all the chances are on our side," Mulot said.

   "We may know within a fortnight whether fertilisation has occurred," added Mulot. "Then we will only be able to know definitively if there is a baby if Huan Huan develops gestation behaviour such as sleeping more and eating less.

On 4 August 2017, following artificial insemination, Huan Huan gave birth to Yuan Meng, the first panda born in France.