Pertinax, could I be REALLY cheeky, and ask you to try and dig that out for me?
Its a great shame that it failed tho. Could I ask, did they send chi-chi to moskow and bring an-an to london when chi-chi was on heat, or could they not know that infomation back then?
You can ask- but it might take a million years to find it- presuming I still have it. I will look though.
They knew about ChiChi's heat periods as these were very distinctive due to her behavioural changes. For a few days each Spring and Autumn she would start calling a lot (bleating), with a big increase in scentmarking, plus backing-up('presenting') to her keepers. They organised the mating attempts around this knowledge, so that she was sent to Moscow(or AnAn to London) with plenty of time to settle down before she had another heat period, then they would introduce them. They were only put together for short sessions during her actual heat periods though. I think it was even organised so that if she missed a period because of upset from the changed surroundings, their stay in the same zoo would still overlap for the next expected one too.
As we know, it all failed because she was imprinted on her keepers, not other Pandas, whereas AnAn was normal and seriously interested in trying to mate with her. When he was put in the enclosure with her she became stressed, which made him more aggressive in his efforts. But when he was removed she would immediately revert to her 'heat' behaviour, presenting to the keepers again. It was an impossible situation- she'd been on her own too long as a young Panda and into adulthood.
You really must get a copy of 'Men and Pandas' by Desmond Morris if you don't have one. Its all in there in great detail.
