Despite their best efforts to encourage female giant panda Ke Lin and her partner Yongyong to participate in their breeding program, Chinese researchers were having no luck.
Special exercises, repeated encouragement, and even Viagra failed to get the pair in the mood.
But a special screening of 'panda porn' seems to have finally done the trick.
After watching a video of pandas mating in the wild, Ke Lin, who was described as 'clueless and unenthusiastic,' finally accepted Yongyong's advances.
According to the South China Morning Post, cheers erupted from the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding last week when the pair mated.
Researchers had feared that Ke Lin would miss her annual estrous cycle, which only lasts for three days out of the year.
"Every time Yongyong tried to mount her Ke Lin fought him off and we were worried she was going to miss her three-day breeding cycle," said a spokesman.
"So we played them the film and she took great interest in it. After that there was no stopping her and they mated successfully.
"In the wild, Ke Lin would have seen lots of other pandas mating but in captivity, it's no wonder she needed help."
Giant pandas have very low breeding rates, and few zoos outside China have successfully managed to breed them.
Zoologists have several factors working against them when it comes to breeding pandas, including the small window of opportunity, loss of sexual appetite of female pandas once in captivity, and selective disposition.
The destruction of bamboo forests in China has reduced the animals' natural habitat to such an extent that most pandas are now bred in captivity.
Comments