Zoo plays music to get panda to mate

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- An Edinburgh Zoo spokeswoman said a panda's radio station has been switched from Classic FM to Smooth Radio in hopes the music will encourage him to mate.

In response, the station is now playing a daily song for Yang Guang and his mate Tian Tian, including Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," the British tabloid The Mirror reported.

"He has always been more sensitive than Tian Tian to background noise, so it's settling and soothing for him to have it playing softly in the background," the spokeswoman said.

Intimate details of the pair's warm-up routine have emerged, The Mirror said, including physical exercises, special lighting and extra rations of bamboo.

Keepers are also training the pandas to stand on their hind legs to train for the task ahead, The Mirror said.

Female pandas ovulate just once per year and then are fertile for only two days afterward, so the window is narrow.

Tian Tian has begun producing high-pitched chirps, indicating she is entering her mating season.