Respect! Studly giant panda breaks record by mating with his lady for 18 mins

A giant Panda called Lu Lu at the Sichuan Giant Panda centre in China decided to take reproductive matters in his own hand, and ended up setting a world record for the longest mating session ever: a record-breaking 18 minutes, with fellow female Panda Xi Mei.[caption id="attachment_2186493" align="alignleft" width="380"] Video grab from the video.[/caption]This comes as a shocker for two reasons. a) This wasn't the first record Lu Lu broke in the mating department, having shattered his near eight-minute record with another female panda called Zhen Zhen, and b) Pandas are notorious for having short mating spans and according to these WWF figures, while the panda population is growing, there are only 1864 pandas in the world.Given that a typical mating session between pandas lasts between 30 seconds to five minute, this session, it's a no brainer that panda experts were only too pleased with Lu Lu’s prowess, so much so that they broadcast the entire episode live on China Network Television’s iPanda website, reports Mirror UK. Lulu has now become somewhat of a national hero.Lu Lu was put together with the other pandas as part of a breeding program run by the Chinese, and the experts use poles made of bamboo to guide the pandas towards each other, after having tracked when the pandas are in the amorous mood, according to this Daily Mail report.You can watch the video here: