Ling Ling, Japan's perennially unlucky giant panda, has once again failed to father an offspring. 

Ling Ling, Japan's perennially unlucky giant panda, has once again failed to father an offspring, even with the help of science.

Keepers at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo said that attempts to artificially impregnate a female panda on loan from Mexico had failed, ending months of anxious speculation.

The 18-year-old male had in the past made three separate unsuccessful trips to Mexico.

Ling Ling is one of eight pandas in Japan, and the only panda living permanently at Ueno Zoo.

There are only an estimated 800 to 1,000 pandas left in the wild, and they are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. 

(CRI July 9, 2004)