View source for Tian Tian (female giant panda)

{{Short description|Female giant panda (born 2003)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
[[File:Tian Tian.JPG|thumb|right|220px|Tián Tián at Edinburgh Zoo in 2012]]
[[File:Tián Tián (甜甜) sitting on branches.jpg|thumb|Tián Tián sitting on branches]]
'''Tian Tian''' ({{zh|c=甜甜|p=Tián Tián}}, meaning "Sweetie") is a female [[panda]] born on 24 August 2003 at the [[Beijing Zoo]] from mother Niu Niu and father Ying Ying, and a former resident at [[Edinburgh Zoo]], Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rzss.org.uk/media/4362/PandaFactsheet_April14.doc |title=Archived copy |access-date=12 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629003131/http://www.rzss.org.uk/media/4362/PandaFactsheet_April14.doc |archive-date=29 June 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
She arrived in Edinburgh in December 2011<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/04/giant-pandas-edinburgh-zoo-china|title=Giant pandas touch down in Edinburgh|first=Severin|last=Carrell|date=4 December 2011|website=The Guardian}}</ref> together with a male panda named Yáng Guāng ({{zh|c=陽光}}, meaning "sunshine"). They were the only two pandas in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/animals-attractions/animals/giant-panda/|title=Page not found - Edinburgh Zoo|website=www.edinburghzoo.org.uk|access-date=12 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813040421/http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/animals-attractions/animals/giant-panda/|archive-date=13 August 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> They are on loan from the Bifengxia Breeding Centre in China at a cost of £640,000 per year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/dec/02/pandas-edinburgh-zoo|title=What price captive pandas?|first=Henry|last=Nicholls|date=2 December 2011|website=The Guardian}}</ref>
The initial ten-year loan was extended by two years due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]; in September 2023 it was announced that the pair would return to China in December of that year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Edinburgh Zoo's giant pandas to return to China in December |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-66706653 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=11 September 2023 |date=4 September 2023}}</ref>
The pandas arrived in China on December 4, 2023.
==Pregnancies==
When in China Tian Tian, successfully gave birth to twins on 7 August 2009.  The male cub was named Shen Wei and the female Bo Si.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.giantpandazoo.com/panda/panda-zoos/edinburgh-zoo |title=Edinburgh Zoo &#124; www.GiantPandaZoo.com |access-date=12 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140731102718/http://www.giantpandazoo.com/panda/panda-zoos/edinburgh-zoo |archive-date=31 July 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
After her arrival at [[Edinburgh Zoo]] she had an unsuccessful [[mating season]] in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|title = Giant pandas fail to mate|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/apr/04/giant-pandas-fail-to-mate|work=The Guardian}}</ref>
In April 2013 [[Royal Zoological Society of Scotland]] performed on her the first artificial insemination procedure on a giant panda in the UK. They later confirm that Tian Tian had become pregnant, but most likely reabsorbed the foetus late term.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-24533158 | work=BBC News | title=Edinburgh Zoo panda Tian Tian 'no longer pregnant' | date=15 October 2013}}</ref>
On 12 August 2014 Iain Valentine, Director of Giant Pandas for the [[Royal Zoological Society of Scotland]], announced that a second implantation had taken place, she was pregnant and birth was expected around the end of August 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/news/2014/08/giant-panda-update/|title=Page not found - Edinburgh Zoo|website=www.edinburghzoo.org.uk}}</ref> On 22 September 2014 Edinburgh Zoo announced that she was no longer pregnant.<ref>{{cite web|title=News World news Animals Edinburgh zoo says giant panda Tian Tian is no longer pregnant|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/22/edinburgh-zoo-giant-panda-tian-tian-not-pregnant|work=The Guardian|date=22 September 2014}}</ref>
On 26 March 2015 it was announced that a third artificial insemination had taken place<ref>{{cite web|title=Giant Panda Breeding Season Update|url=http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/news/2015/03/giant-panda-breeding-season-update/|publisher=Edinburgh Zoo|date=26 March 2015|accessdate=8 April 2015}}</ref> but by August 2015 it was believed she had lost the cub.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|title=Edinburgh zoo panda no longer believed to be pregnant|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34048872|accessdate=24 February 2015|publisher=BBC News, Edinburgh, Fife & East Scotland|date=25 August 2015}}</ref><ref name="Guardian"/>
In October 2015 scientists said they were exploring [[cloning]] the pandas at Edinburgh Zoo.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news|title=Scottish scientists looking at ways to clone Edinburgh pandas|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13802694.Scottish_scientists_looking_at_ways_to_clone_Edinburgh_pandas/|accessdate=24 February 2016|work=The Guardian|date=4 October 2015}}</ref>
On 24 August 2017 it was revealed that [[Edinburgh Zoo]] had believed she was pregnant again after being artificially inseminated for the fifth time in 2016.<ref name="scotsman.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-zoo-believes-giant-panda-tian-tian-is-pregnant-1-4541396|title=Edinburgh Zoo 'believes giant panda Tian Tian is pregnant'|date=24 August 2017 |publisher=}}</ref>  The expected date for a birth was as early as 25 August 2017<ref name="scotsman.com"/> although the Zoo said was hard to predict and the panda breeding season can last until late September.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-41039651|title=Edinburgh panda 'believed to be pregnant'|work=BBC News |date=24 August 2017|publisher=}}</ref>  On 11 September 2017, the Zoo said that Tian Tian was not pregnant and her hormone levels had returned to normal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/11/our-giant-panda-tian-tian-not-pregnant-says-edinburgh-zoo|title=Edinburgh zoo's giant panda fails to produce cub|first=Severin|last=Carrell|date=11 September 2017|website=The Guardian}}</ref>
==In the media==
The coverage of Tian Tian's pregnancies at [[Edinburgh Zoo]] became so widespread that [[BBC Radio 4]] current affairs programme ''[[PM (Radio 4)|PM]]'' broadcast satirical daily "Possible Panda Pregnancy Update[s]".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bigpartnership.co.uk/blog/public-relations/359-pandering-to-the-media-what-we-can-learn-from-britain-s-panda-watch |title=Pandering to the media: What we can learn from Britain's panda watch |access-date=12 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021105520/http://www.bigpartnership.co.uk/blog/public-relations/359-pandering-to-the-media-what-we-can-learn-from-britain-s-panda-watch |archive-date=21 October 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of giant pandas]]
* [[List of individual bears]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Famous giant pandas}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tian, Tian}}
[[Category:Individual giant pandas]]
[[Category:Edinburgh Zoo]]
[[Category:2003 animal births]]
[[Category:China–United Kingdom relations]]
[[Category:Individual animals in Scotland]]