Zoogoers in Vienna who like to watch were in for a surprise as they approached the panda pen on Wednesday.
Panda’s may owe their rarity to the fact that zookeepers have an incredibly difficult time convincing the endangered animals to mate in captivity.
"Other zoos, and especially breeding stations, rely solely on artificial insemination," Vienna’s Schonbrunn Zoo said in a statement.
But Yang Yang and Long Hui, two panda’s residing in the zoo in the Austrian capital, surprised everyone this week by enthusiastically copulating, many times, and in front of witnesses.
"This is a sensation for giant pandas," the statement reads.
Pandas typically only mate once a year and females can only conceive for a period of two or three days.
With a gestation period of 163 days, zookeepers will anxiously wait to see if Yang Yang and Long Hui’s wild Wednesday results in a cuddly new cub.
Three panda cubs have been born at Schoenbrun zoo since 2007, all to Yang Yang and Long Hui.
It is estimated that there are fewer than 2,000 giant pandas left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
