Scocca

Assisted Panda-Reproduction Attempt Leads to One Fewer Panda

A team of three Chinese panda experts is being dispatched to Kyoto, China Daily reports, to investigate the death of a panda named Xin Xin . Xin Xin, a 14-year-old male, died last week

after being given a shot of anesthesia so zoo workers could collect his sperm to artificially inseminate his 14-year-old partner Tan Tan.

Previous artificial insemination attempts between Xin Xin and Tan Tan produced one stillborn cub and another that died soon after birth. The Chinese Forestry Administration has asked the zoo in Kyoto to ” seal up the corpse” until the panda forensic investigators arrive, according to China Daily. 

The Wall Street Journal, citing the Oriental Morning Post, writes that China’s panda-loan arrangement calls for a $500,000 compensation payment in the event of panda death.