Edinburgh Zoo’s male panda is displaying high levels of testosterone, indicating he is ready to mate (Nick Drainey writes).
Video shot by a visitor shows Yang Guang doing forward rolls, pacing his enclosure and chewing the padded cable of his swing.
Tian Tian, his female counterpart, is meanwhile in her enclosure next door calmly munching bamboo. She is only fertile for 24 to 36 hours and is unlikely to be ready for at least another month.
The male panda’s apparent eagerness to get on with mating could be a promising sign that the pair will this year deliver a cub after three years of disappointment.
The pandas are on a ten-year loan from China at a cost of £600,000 a year.