I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 726 - 725 Preparations for Panda Breeding

Sun Yuanxiao also entered into a self-isolation mode, tucked in the small breeding nest box all day, not willing to come out, uncertain if she was pregnant.

The gestation period for Pallas’s cats is around 66-75 days, so if she was pregnant, little Pallas’s cats could be seen in two months.

The breeding nest box was also designed based on Xining Zoo’s experience; cats all like smaller spaces where they can feel more secure huddled inside.

In March, spring blossomed.

The breeding season for Pallas’s cats came to an end, and it was the start of the panda love season.

Zhuangzhuang and Cloud behaved as usual, with no signs of heat yet, but preparations had already started.

First step, show Zhuangzhuang videos!

Zhuangzhuang was enjoying his bamboo in the back quarters when once again the television was rolled out in front of him, and panda videos began to play.

On the grass, one panda lay on the ground while another hugged it and gently rocked back and forth.

Emitting a continuous series of moans.

“Meh~~~ Meh~~~ Meh~~~ Meh~hmmm~~”

It sounded like a motorcycle struggling to start!

Zhuangzhuang stared blankly at the television screen, thinking, geez, they’re showing me such stimulating stuff early in the morning!

He remembered that around this time last year they also played him a dozen videos every day.

When he watched them as part of his learning last year, he was still somewhat clueless.

This year, fully mature in body and mind and at the right age to mate, watching panda videos elicited a much stronger response!

Hearing the female panda’s moans, it felt like little bugs were crawling all over his body, making him itch.

Zhuangzhuang watched the videos, forgetting to eat the bamboo that was right beside his mouth.

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After the videos ended, he was still restless as he resumed eating his bamboo.

Images flashed before his eyes of the pandas huddled together, the female panda’s yearning bleats.

He ran around the activity yard, practicing his panda kung fu and tearing up sacks into pieces as a release, until he felt somewhat calmer.

Every day they continued showing Zhuangzhuang videos to stimulate him into heat.

The goal was to get Zhuangzhuang into the mood first since the male panda’s mating season is relatively long compared to the short peak of the female’s heat.

His diet changed as well; special meals were prepared for Zhuangzhuang, more nutritious than his usual fare.

Enjoying premium food every day and watching films, Zhuangzhuang was full of vigor and began to exhibit some strange behaviors!

Normally silent, he now started to make sweet little sheep’s bleats.

“Baa~~ Baa~~~”

Such a sound usually signifies friendliness or hunger.

During the mating season, this distinctive bleat turns into an urgent mating call that the opposite-sex pandas can easily understand.

Pacing back and forth in the activity area, bleating incessantly, he rubbed his backside against bamboo, rocks, walls, and various other places to leave his scent.

He also propped his body up with his arms, his short, plump legs propped against a tree trunk as he performed an elaborate handstand to urinate.

This too is a unique behavior exhibited by pandas during their mating season!

By doing a handstand to urinate, the urine is deposited at a higher position, spreading farther, signaling to female pandas his interest in finding a mate, and warning other male pandas that this territory is his.

Zhuangzhuang’s handstand urinating posture was captured on camera, and the zoo even posted an article with photos.

Netizens commented with great enthusiasm, “Haha, do pandas have no shame? Even taking a leak becomes a spectacle to be photographed and gawked at!”

“Wishing Zhuangzhuang and Cloud a happy union, and may they produce lovely offspring soon!”

“Hehe, if they succeed, will they send us wedding candy?”

“Speaking of which, when is the zoo reopening? I’ve seen some places are already back in business. I want to go watch them mate in person!”

Reply: “We’ll likely open around mid-month! However, to provide a peaceful dating environment for the pandas without affecting their breeding, even if the zoo reopens, the panda exhibit will remain closed to visitors for the time being!”

“Ah, that’s a shame!”

As Zhuangzhuang entered the mating season, the next step was to swap the enclosures for the two pandas so that they could smell each other’s feces!

Normally kept apart, they neither saw nor heard each other, nor could they smell each other, creating a sense of mystique.

Although pandas are solitary by nature, only coming together during the mating season each year, it’s not just a matter of mating right after seeing each other, there has to be a step of getting to know each other.

This step is short, but necessary.

In the wild, pandas come together during the mating season in a few relatively fixed meeting places, akin to matchmaking corners.

On the way, they smell the scents left by other pandas, while also leaving behind their own scent messages, like resumes at a matchmaking corner.

“I’m Chubby, weighing 100 kilograms, good at fighting, love sleeping, looking for a cute female bear!”

“My name is Dada, I love eating bamboo, my dream bear, where are you?”

Once they meet, they know immediately from the scent who it is.

The female panda stays up in the tree, while the male pandas fight below, and the winner receives the favor of the female panda. After mating, they each go their own way.

Captive pandas skip the martial courtship step, but smelling each other’s scent allows them to become familiar in advance, generate interest, and effectively increase how appealing they find each other upon meeting.

Otherwise, if they’re suddenly brought together without having smelled each other, they might be too nervous and wary, which could turn what should be a romantic encounter into a brawl.

After swapping enclosures, Cloud and Zhuangzhuang sniffed the lingering scents and feces of one another.

For pandas, their sense of smell is the most acute sense, through which they can gather much information.

Zhuangzhuang was like entering a pink boudoir, with beautiful dresses and smooth stockings in the bedroom, lying on a soft bed that still carried a delightful fragrance, a plethora of thoughts running through his mind.

Such a beautiful lady must have once lived here! Just being here was enough to make him hardly able to suppress the urge to mate!

Cloud felt the same, imagining a misty but robust male panda.

When Cloud was played Zhuangzhuang’s courting sounds and given his feces to sniff, after a few days, she too entered her mating period.