Bao Li is currently in rut—the period when male giant pandas ready themselves for breeding. Typically, it lasts from November to May. During this time, if he catches a glimpse of Qing Bao, he will vocalize and try to grab her attention.
Outside of breeding season, Qing Bao usually doesn’t respond. But she’s not deliberately ghosting him. Female giant pandas’ interest in males is driven by their hormones, which only ramp up for a few consecutive weeks out of the entire year. And estrus—the window when female giant pandas are able to conceive a cub—is extremely short, lasting only 48-to-72 hours.
Last year, Qing Bao experienced her first estrus cycle in March and April, followed by her first pseudopregnancy in August and September. This year, on Feb. 16, we noticed Qing Bao was starting to show some physiological changes in her reproductive area—a key indicator that breeding season was right around the corner.
Over the next several weeks, we saw changes in her behavior, too. Initially, Qing Bao went about her normal routine of eat, sleep, play and repeat. But by mid-March, she spent a lot of time wandering around her habitat and scent marking.