From our Local-News-Department comes the announcement that the San Diego Zoo’s own Bai Yun, a giant panda on loan from China, has successfully mated in "the only successful natural insemination of a panda this year in the United States, officials said." Perhaps the success was due in part to Bai Yun’s beauty routine, which made her irresistable to fellow giant panda Gao Gao:
"[Don] Lindburg [‘the zoo’s giant panda conservation team leader’] said Bai Yun had displayed signs of being receptive to mating in recent days, including yipping and raising her tail, walking through water and scraping pine tree bark onto her head and face.
"’It’s getting her perfume on for the date,’ Lindburg said.
"Zoo officials then lifted the gate that separates the two for much of the year on Friday to let the mating begin."
"[S]craping pine tree bark onto her head and face"? Oh, the tortures women must go through to be beautiful for men. Considering the lengths to which Bai Yun went for him, what I really wanted to know was whether Gao Gao also spruced himself up for the occasion, but the article didn’t mention that.
Well… hopefully he at least brought her some flowers and chocolate. er… I guess that would be bamboo and insects…
The beauty of this dating/mating ritual is it’s simplicity…I mean, it’s clever, but it’s uncomplicated…I almost wish I was a panda..well, paint me black and white and you wouldn’t be far off!….where’s that pine tree bark…
God Bless.