Pandas Mate 3 Times in 27 Hours : Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing Have a Fling, Fling, Fling

WASHINGTON — Days after their decade-old romance appeared on the rocks, America’s two giant pandas surprised National Zoo keepers today with a record triple tryst.

The first mating between Ling-Ling and her partner Hsing-Hsing was recorded at 5:45 a.m. Sunday and two more sexual encounters were observed at 7 a.m. and 8:35 a.m. today, zoo spokeswoman Kate Taub said.

The encounters in the panda’s outdoor playground came after the zoo had all but given up hope that the nation’s most-watched animal couple would reaffirm their relationship this year.

“I went out of town this weekend, figuring (Ling-Ling) was out of heat, and was very surprised to come back and find out they were still at it,” panda keeper Beth Frank said. “Because on Wednesday it looked dead.”

Frank said she believed the sudden flurry of panda love was helped along by injections Ling-Ling received in mid-June of Follicle Stimulating Hormone, a fertility drug used on humans and some animals to activate ovulation.

Prior to today’s displays of affection, the pandas had mated three times--once in 1983 and twice in 1984. Ling-Ling’s first cub died of respiratory failure shortly after birth and the second cub was stillborn.