There will be no giant panda cub this year with Adelaide Zoo confirming Fu Ni is not pregnant after the passing of another breeding season.
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Officials say while they had every hope that an artificial insemination process would be a success this year, that is not the case.
"After constant observation, including staff monitoring Fu Ni over a series of nights, our animal care team has confirmed that Fu Ni's hormone levels have returned to baseline and she is not pregnant," the zoo said in a social media post on Friday.
It said Fu Ni had also taken an enrichment toy and was currently "mothering" it as was typical of a pseudopregnancy.
A giant panda can experience a pseudopregnancy or re-absorb a foetus.
During that time it will behave and do everything as if it were pregnant.
"While our staff and volunteers are obviously disappointed that there will be no cub this year, our thoughts turn to Fu Ni's devoted keepers who were so hopeful and have done everything in their power to ensure her welfare throughout," the zoo said.
"As she is experiencing a pseudopregnancy or a loss, Fu Ni will continue to use her den, an area she has prepared herself.
"She will also continue to require her own off-display time to allow her hormones to settle and for her to come to the realisation that despite what her body has told her, she will not be giving birth to a cub."
Adelaide Zoo's Bamboo Forest area will remain open, with visitors still able to see Fu Ni's partner Wang Wang.
Fu Ni and Wang Wang have been in Adelaide since 2009 on loan from China.
Efforts to have her give birth are part of a global conservation program for the vulnerable species.
Those efforts have so far failed, thwarted by a notoriously complex reproductive system including a small fertility period once a year that only lasts between 24 and 72 hours.
Australian Associated Press
