Artificial insemination was always planned for our pandas, even if natural mating occurred, because it best mimics the multiple mating strategy of pandas in the wild. Like IVF, artificial insemination is essentially an opportunity for science to give Mother Nature a helping hand.

Perhaps the poor panda's problem is that it is neither directly useful to humans like cows, sheep, potatoes and apples (whose populations have thrived alongside those of humans), nor has it ever been simply domesticated. Does another species need to be directly useful to humans in order for us to justify its survival?

Giant pandas are charismatic, fascinating creatures. From a biological perspective, I find them so very interesting. I really like them. And yet, I think it may be the time to let them drift off into extinction or, at the very least, reconsider our approach to their conservation. I do not say this lightly.

Chinese zoo workers donned panda suits as they transported a cub and his mother to a new location at the Wolong National Nature Reserve. Panda cub...

A Scottish Government advert has been banned by the advertising watchdog for suggesting that two pandas sent by China to Edinburgh Zoo were a "gift". ...

Male panda celebrity Yang Guang has had to withdraw from a public showing at Edinburgh zoo after a bad case of colic. He will now remain indoors to 'r...

This picture of a panda eating an antelope will shock many who believed the black and white bears only ate bamboo. Caught on an infra-red camera, t...

A row has broken out on social networking site Twitter after the BBC named a panda called Sweetie as the “pioneering” female face of December in t...

Two giant pandas flown to the UK from China have spent the first night at their new home sleeping off the effects of jet lag. Tian Tian and Yang Gu...

For a panda with a poorly eye, popping to the opticians isn't an option. But sometimes things can get so bad the bears do in fact need an operation. ...

A panda blissfully taking a daytime snooze under a tree was given a rude awakening by a vindictive mate at a zoo in China. In an act of blatant pan...