A giant panda in Hong Kong suffered a miscarriage, amid high expectations of the first panda cub born in captivity in the region, veterinarians said.
Yingying lost its baby in Hong Kong's Ocean Park.
"Based on recent scans, the pregnancy is no longer viable," Ocean Park veterinarian Lee Foo Khong told reporters, adding that scans taken Wednesday morning showed the fetus had stopped developing.
"The structure was no longer distinct ... it was breaking down," Lee said, adding that they had not determined the reason for the failed pregnancy.
The 10-year-old giant panda began to show signs of pregnancy in July and was due to give birth this week. The pregnancy came after several attempts at insemination.
Ocean Park was reportedly planning to invite people to take part in naming the cub.
Panda pregnancies are fragile and veterinarians had already warned when the imminent birth was announced last week that it was possible Yingying could reabsorb or miscarry the fetus.
A team of specialists had been assigned to keep an eye on the panda and park managers had sought to protect her from noise and disturbance.
Reports said that around 200 captive pandas have been born in China in the past decades, and 36 pandas were born in captivity last year, 32 of which survived.
