Meng Meng, the Panda in Berlin zoo is pregnant with twins

 

BERLIN – Meng Meng, Berlin Zoo’s female giant panda, is expecting twin cubs, an ultrasound examination has revealed, the zoo authorities announced on Tuesday.

“Following weeks of tense expectation, there was a minor celebration in Berlin Zoo’s Panda Garden on Sunday morning,” they reported. The cubs will be the first to be born at the zoo in central Berlin in five years.

“One heartbeat could initially be made out on the ultrasound equipment, and shortly thereafter a second as well,” they added. The cubs are just 2.5 centimetres long at the moment and will grow considerably before birth.

Meng Meng last produced twin cubs in 2019. She was artificially inseminated in March this year with the aid of international expertise following intensive observation and careful preparation. Experts arrived from China on Sunday to assist with the preparations.

Meng Meng was initially uncooperative in submitting to the ultrasound examination, but things finally went well on Sunday.

“Despite visible tummy pains, Meng Meng could be induced to come into an upright position to accept the cool ultrasound gel and examination with the probe,” Thomas Hildebrandt, head of reproduction management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, said.

Berlin Zoo veterinarian Franziska Sutter said there had been a number of unsuccessful examinations and issued a word of caution.

“Amid all the enthusiasm, we have to realize that this is a very early stage of the pregnancy and that a so-called resorption – or death – of the embryo is still possible at this stage,” she said.

The panda pregnancy will be monitored with further ultrasound examinations and hormonal analysis. “We hope very much that everything works just as well as on the last occasion in 2019,” she said.

The birth was a sensation at the time, drawing large crowds to the zoo before the twins, Pit and Paule, were flown to China at the end of last year.

Public access to Meng Meng is to be limited over the weeks ahead, as she is showing signs of sleepiness. Her mate, Jiao Qing, who is 14, will continue to be on view.

Pandas are solitary in the wild, and the males do not participate in rearing the cubs. Gestation takes three to six months as a rule. The zoo said that dormancy was the reason behind the delay in confirming Meng Meng’s pregnancy.

By contrast with most mammals, the implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus wall does not occur immediately in pandas. The egg instead remains suspended in the mother’s uterus for a period. This period can last for several months, during which the embryo does not continue to develop. An embryo only begins to develop under favourable external conditions.