No baby pandas but Tian Tian and Yang Guang delighted us with their presence - Susan Dalgety

So farewell, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, Edinburgh’s giant pandas, who are returning to their homeland of China after 12 years in the Capital.

Giant panda Tian Tian - visitors had one final opportunity to say goodbye to Britain's only giant pandas last week before zoo keepers started to get them ready to make their way back to China. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The bears have attracted attention since they first touched down at Edinburgh airport aboard the FedEx Panda Express on December 4, 2011. The then First Minister Alex Salmond shamelessly used the big beasts as a diplomatic show of strength.

His government took out a newspaper advert featuring Tian Tian (the female) boasting: “Now, in a symbolic gesture of friendship between the countries, and following five years of political and diplomatic talks, the Chinese are gifting two giant pandas to live in Scotland, under the custodianship of Edinburgh Zoo.”

Except the bears were not a gift. The Advertising Standards Authority later censured the Scottish Government for claiming the bears had been a present, when they were actually a commercial arrangement between Edinburgh Zoo and the Chinese authorities. The Zoo paid $1 million a year for the privilege of hosting the pandas.

Their departure even tempted the BBC’s flagship radio news programme, Today, north of the border last week. Presenter Mishal Husain visited the pandas the day before their enclosure was closed to the public. She was delighted when Yang Guang was tempted outside by a big bunch of bamboo, describing it as the last chance for anyone in the UK to see pandas in this country. She was lucky – the pandas often spent much of their day inside their enclosure, their backs to visitors.

The zoo failed in its attempt to get the pair to breed. Pandas may be cuddly creatures, but they are notoriously bad at sex. Female pandas are only fertile for a few hours once a year, and according to Scientific America, there is “perhaps no mammal that is less often in the mood for sex than the female giant panda”.

Eight attempts at artificial insemination failed, and since 2021 Tian Tian has been left in peace. She and her partner may not have given Scotland – and the world – what we all wanted, a baby panda, but during their 12-year stay they delighted us with their presence. They will be missed, but probably not by the penguins, who are now back in their rightful place as the zoo’s number one attraction.