Zoo calls in experts to pinpoint Funi the giant panda's most fertile moments - Herald Sun

These seriously cute young pandas end up in a panda pile-up when they all take on the slide at once with results.

Funi, the giant panda, in Wang Wang's enclosure at Adelaide Zoo. Picture: Matt Turner Source: AdelaideNow

ADELAIDE Zoo has called in human fertility experts to pinpoint the exact time that giant panda Funi is fertile, which they expect to begin on Friday.

There is a short window of just 24 to 48 hours when Funi is able to conceive each year, which makes timing critical.

To pinpoint that period, Repromed is conducting twice-daily urine tests to analyse her oestrogen levels.

Those levels will peak at the time Funi is at her most fertile, which zoo and Repromed experts expect will be on Friday.

It also will be the time when Funi, 6, is most receptive to the advances of her male partner Wang Wang, 7.

But if the pair fail to conceive again this year, fertility experts will likely artificially inseminate Funi next year.

Zoo vet Dr David McLelland said Repromed - which has created more than 10,000 human babies - was called in for its expertise.

"With no veterinary endocrine lab in Adelaide, the partnership has allowed us to track Funi's oestrogen levels, which is a vital element of an integrated monitoring program to ensure we determine the exact time of ovulation," he said.

Cell tests also were being carried out daily to determine when a cell change occurs. It gives two days warning of the beginning of ovulation.

Dr McLelland said the pair would be introduced to each other and closely monitored.

Repromed deputy scientific director Dr Hassan Bakos said fertility was "very different" between pandas and humans.

"In pandas it is much more critical that we get the timing right, otherwise you have to wait another year," he said.