Copenhagen Zoo lowers hopes for panda cubs after scans

Copenhagen Zoo has lowered its expectations of panda cubs after repeated scans of Mao Sun have shown no signs of a pregnancy, DR reports. The female panda was inseminated for the first time this year, but the procedure has not yet produced visible results.

“The window for the foetus to grow is now so small that we have gradually begun to lower our expectations, because we still have not seen anything,” zoological director Mads Frost Bertelsen told Ritzau. “We simply cannot see that there is anything in there.”

Mao Sun is scanned two or three times a week, but no foetus has been detected. The possibility of cubs has not been ruled out because panda foetuses remain dormant for the first several months and only grow significantly towards the end of the pregnancy.

“We cannot rule it out completely. But something needs to happen very soon if there are cubs in there,” Bertelsen said. “For now, we are crossing our fingers, scanning and hoping that one or two small foetuses are hidden in a corner of the uterus.”

The zoo has tried six times to get its two pandas to mate naturally, without success, and therefore chose to inseminate Mao Sun. Panda pregnancies can be difficult to detect because foetal development stops for several months after mating or insemination, and even renewed growth at the end can be hard to see in scans.

Mao Sun may also show signs of pregnancy without actually being pregnant, a condition known as a false pregnancy. “All the signs are the same, whether she is pregnant or not, so we cannot use them as a marker,” Bertelsen said.