A male red panda from Wellington Zoo has arrived at Britain's Bristol Zoo, where he will be introduced to a female red panda born in the Netherlands.
The three-year-old called Sir Ed, after Sir Edmund Hillary, is a suitable genetic pairing for Jasmina, which is also the same age.
Red pandas were once thought to be closely related to the giant panda, but genetic research shows they are more closely allied with the raccoon and weasel families.
Award for humane animal research
An Auckland scientist has been honoured for humane use of animals in her research.
The National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee says Dr Siouxsie Wiles worked to avoid using animals in her research while also replacing them in some tests or minimising the pain or distress they experienced.
Dr Wiles' research involved creating glow in the dark bacteria to test antibiotics and vaccines.
The Commitee says she use slices of ham to replace mice in some cases and developed a new imaging technique to allow the mice to be euthanised at an earlier and more humane stage of testing.