Giant panda Tian Tian is believed to be pregnant and may give birth by the end of the month.
Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo have been monitoring Tian Tian since she was artifically inseminated on April 13.
Iain Valentine, director of pandas at the zoo, said: "The latest scientific data suggests Tian Tian the giant panda is now pregnant and that implantation has taken place; therefore, she may give birth at the end of the month.
She's in the family way: Tian Tian enjoys a bamboo snack
"This is all very new and complex science and we still have a bit of time to go yet, as like last year, the late loss of a cub remains entirely possible."
Tian Tian (Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) are the first giant pandas to live in the UK for 17 years.
The animals, now both aged 10, arrived on loan from China in December 2011 and will remain at Edinburgh Zoo for a decade.
Tian Tian was successfully inseminated last year but lost her cub at late term.
Experts have been analysing the animal's hormone and protein levels but said it will not be known for certain if she is pregnant until she gives birth.
Mr Valentine, from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said the latest scientific tests will give a strong indication but are "too new" to be definitive.
He said: "Monitoring a female giant panda's behaviour - for example, if she is sleeping a lot, eating more or spending time in her cubbing den - is not an indicator of if she is pregnant or otherwise, as giant pandas experience pseudo pregnancies and she will show 'pregnant' type behaviour whether she is pregnant or not.
"Two of our Chinese colleagues are due to travel to Scotland in mid-August and we continue to monitor and wait."
Last year's attempt was the first artificial insemination procedure to take place on a giant panda in the UK.
Tian Tian did become pregnant but it is believed she reabsorbed the foetus.
She was again inseminated in April after she and Yang Guang failed to mate naturally.
Last month the zoo confirmed that Tian Tian had conceived but was not yet technically pregnant.
It said the panda was in "great health", of a good weight and eating well.
The panda gestation period is typically around five months and one or two cubs will be born.
They enter the world blind, hairless and unable to move - making them entirely dependent on their mother for survival for their first weeks.
The zoo said the panda breeding programme can play an important role in conservation.