False Alarm!
Earlier this summer the National Zoo said their female panda might be pregnant. But it looks like it was just gas.
It was poor Mei Xiang sixth false pregnancy in total.
Mei has been artificially inseminated each year since the year after her only cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005.
The announcement means that the zoo probably will try only one more time for a panda pregnancy with Mei. If she does not become pregnant during next year’s cycle, she, and perhaps her mate, Tian Tian, are liable to be replaced, zoo officials have said.
[Image via WENN.]