EDINBURGH ZOO HAS confirmed that Tian Tian, an 11-year-old panda bear, is no longer pregnant.

Tian Tian was artificially inseminated in April and zookeepers in the Scottish capital had hoped that she would carry to term.

However, it seems now that late reabsorption of the foetus occurred and Tian Tian is no longer pregnant.

Iain Valentine of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs the zoo, says that there is no evidence of a miscarriage, but says that it is important that they attempted to breed the animal.

“Although Tian Tian has not successfully given birth, it is important for her individual biology as a female giant panda and for the future of giant panda conservation across the globe that we tried.

“The team continue to monitor Tian Tian and she is in great health. The specialist team here and international colleagues will thoroughly review every aspect of how we care for her.”

Edinburgh is one just nine zoos which houses pandas outside of China. There are currently only around 3,000 of the animals in the wild and their extremely narrow window for conception -36 hours a year- makes breeding them in captivity extremely difficult.

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