They arrived like rock stars 12 years ago and like any modern celebrity couple, their love life has been the source of endless speculation ever since.
But now the UK’s only giant pandas are returning to China without having any offspring, despite eight attempts at artificial insemination.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang – also known as Sweetie and Sunshine – were treated like VIPs (Very Important Pandas?) when they arrived in Edinburgh on 4 December 2011.
They flew in from south west China in their own specially-chartered cargo plane – a 5,000 mile journey by Panda Express.
Back then it had been 17 years since there was last a giant panda in a British zoo and from the moment their plane touched down at Edinburgh airport there was enormous public interest.
The loan arrangement for the pandas had taken five years to negotiate, with Edinburgh Zoo agreeing to pay the Chinese an annual fee of one million dollars (currently about £790,000).
It was also stipulated that any cub or cubs born in Edinburgh would be sent back to China when they were two years old.
Some thought the huge loan fee was a risk, since other zoos in Australia and North America had not recouped their costs.
And conversely, there were critics who claimed the pandas had been brought to Scotland less for conservation reasons than in the hope of making money.
One of those was animal activist Yvonne Taylor who said the pandas were like rock stars in that “wherever they go, they draw the crowds”.
But, she said, it was worth remembering there had never been any successful reintroduction of pandas born in captivity back to the wild.
The man in charge of Edinburgh’s pandas when they arrived, Iain Valentine, countered by saying that working with the animals in captivity inspired investment in the natural world.
On their arrival, the pandas were instant celebrities and Edinburgh Zoo was transformed with banners and merchandise.
An old gorilla enclosure was turned, at a cost of £250,000, into a forest residence for Tian Tian and Yang Guang.
Their every need was catered for, with their favourite bamboo being supplied from the Netherlands.
Credit: http://bbc.com
