The first giant pandas to live in Britain in nearly two decades have made their highly anticipated UK media debut and appeared to be settling in well at Scotland's Edinburgh Zoo.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang - or Sweetie and Sunshine - had already met at their enclosure's partition where they sniffed around and put their paws up at each other, zoo official Alison MacLean said.
"This is the second day they've been out and they're now just checking things out," she told reporters.
"It all went extremely nicely," MacLean said. "They were very happy with one another."
The arrival of the eight-year-old panda bear pair has set off a ripple of excitement and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is anticipating high demand among visitors.
Britain's last giant panda, Ming Ming, lived in the London Zoo until 1994, when she was returned to China. These pandas are expected to spend 10 years at the zoo, and officials are keeping their fingers crossed for a fruitful romance.
So were there any signs that giant panda cubs could be on the way?
"It's the million-dollar question really, isn't it?" MacLean said.
"They seem to get on extremely well together but we have to spend a bit of time and just make sure that the female is in season and receptive to the male. And then when she is, that's the point when we'll open the door.
"And after that, it's kind of down to them."
AP
source: newshub archive
