Japan's pandas back on display after mating season: Zoo
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This handout photo taken by Tokyo Zoological Park Society on March 11, 2013, and released on March 12 shows a pair of giant pandas, Ri Ri (left) and Shin Shin (right), mating at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. The Tokyo zoo put its pandas back on display on Friday, March 15, 2013, after keepers decided mating season was over, with well wishers hoping their two attempts would bear fruit. -- FILE PHOTO: AFP/TOKYO ZOOLOGICAL PARK SOCIETY
TOKYO (AFP) - A Tokyo zoo put its pandas back on display Friday after keepers decided mating season was over, with well wishers hoping their two attempts would bear fruit.
Shin Shin and her companion Ri Ri were given privacy earlier this week after they started showing signs of being in season, with managers at Ueno Zoo saying the notoriously shy animals would have more success away from prying eyes.
Two successful couplings - one on Monday evening and one the following morning - raised hopes that Shin Shin might have conceived.
Footage of one episode was put on the zoo's website and was also broadcast on mainstream news programmes "We will continue monitoring her to see whether she is pregnant," said the zoo on its website.
