Poor Pandas: Would you be able to mate in 36 hours with the whole world watching??
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW1xLtysEs4?wmode=transparent]
My sympathy continually goes out to Panda's, the crown jewels of zoos all over the world, who are subjected to unbelievable amounts of public pressure to have sex on demand in the hopes of producing an heir. Recently, Tian Tian (Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) were put under the spotlight at the Edinburgh Zoo with hopes that they would take advantage of the short 36 hour mating window in the year. With a rising rate of endangerment and a hefty price for each loaned Panda (the Edinburgh Zoo pays China 600,000 pounds a year for their ten pandas), a baby panda not only gives hope for the future of the species, but also brings in patron dollars as a baby panda is one of the cutest things you could eve hope to see in your life.
In my exhibition, The Sex Lives of Animals we featured video footage of what the media has dubbed "Panda Porn" or the effort by scientists to show sexually disinterested or uneducated pandas footage of other pandas mating in hopes of inspiring activity. In zoos with limited numbers, pandas may never have seen other panda's having sex. The "Panda Porn" was hoped to be the much needed instruction.
Sadly, Tian Tian and Yang Guang were not able to conceive, but it was very good of the zoo to turn off the live "pandacam" for this intimate few days...or are we so afraid of sex we are too modest to have the public witness a little panda sex? Thoughts?