Gay pandas

In 2013, Martin and colleagues published a study showing that pandas paired with pandas that they liked tended to mate more, and have more babies. It’s specialized. “It’s just that [she is] large compared to a very small, fragile infant. (Still, you should never try to hug a panda, as they can be quite dangerous when provoked, Comizzoli points out.) "For a bear species they really are more mellow, because they’ve gotten so herbivore-ified,” says Martin.

And so a team led by conservation ecologist Megan Owen of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research set out to study the come-hither calls of pandas. He made reports showing that male pandas were more likely to attempt to mate with another male as is they would normally mate with a female. “We’re not doing something right.”

In the wild, pandas meet many potential mating partners and often mate with several.

“I have been actively doing research in breeding season over the past seven years, and I’ve never seen it,” said Martin, who travels each year to China’s Bifengxia Panda Center, one of the largest breeding centers in the world, and called me while on the road to a wildlife conference in Oregon.

It's also to ensure that pandas that are eventually returned to the bamboo forests of China have a fighting chance. "It’s not uncommon for a giant panda mother to fall asleep and potentially roll over onto a cub, but with constant monitoring during those early months this can be avoided."

Snyder witnessed a few of these tense moments when she worked at Zoo Atlanta.

I’m not sure.”

While they may not be loving, at least they aren’t aggressive killers, so they've got that going for them. Historically, zoos chose these pairs based not on behavioral compatibility but on their genes: The goal is to optimize genetic diversity among the captive panda population, and thus avoid creating a population of animals that are all closely related.

Now, a Dutch zoo has started letting its female orangutans choose the most appealing mates from images on a Tablet, in a four-year experiment it has called “Tinder for orangutans.”

Who knows? Given that size ratio and the amount of close contact between mom and baby, “there is some risk.”

To mitigate that risk, panda keepers watch over new moms with extreme vigilance, says Stephanie Braccini, curator of mammals at Zoo Atlanta.

For the giant panda—an ecologically threatened, beloved-by-humans and particularly well-researched species—those lengths can sound rather extreme. What’s more, sensual serenades can resonate through these forests in spring, surpassing in distance even the most exuberant sprays of panda pee.

Given the narrow window of female reproductive viability, understanding the information conveyed with these amorous displays is critical.

So there's really no such thing as panda love? "I even anthropomorphize them.”

Honestly, who could blame her?

The National Zoo is hosting “Bye Bye, Bao Bao” from February 11 through 20, featuring daily Facebook Live events and other happenings on the Panda Cam.