Panda baby boombut still in danger
Source: Xinhua |
September 6, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GIANT pandas remain an endangered species despite the births of 23 cubs in Chinese zoos over the past two months, according to a leading panda researcher in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
"The baby boom began in early July, with 23 cubs born in captivity - 14 at the Wolong research center, eight in Chengdu and one in Beijing," said Zhang Zhihe, director of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Since the boom, the total number of giant pandas in captivity at zoos worldwide had topped 300, a target Chinese scientists set in 2002, said Zhang. "It's good news, but the number is still not big enough for the bears to be taken off the endangered list."
Experts believe the 300 pandas in captivity are the minimum viable population for the species to reproduce and sustain itself.
Zhang and his colleagues have been working to expand the panda population by helping the sex-shy animals breed since the Chengdu base was founded in 1989.
"The growth in the number of artificially-bred pandas, however, was inevitably accompanied by a decline in the quality and genetic diversity, as many captive pandas are blood relations," said Zhang. "This will hinder the species' survival in the long run."
While all the captive-bred pandas were the offspring of 46 wild pandas first kept in zoos, he said 61.4 percent of them were the offspring of four pandas - Pan Pan and Dong Dong at the Wolong China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, and Ha Lan and Lin Nan at the Chengdu base.
Pan Pan alone had 107 offspring, said Zhang. "It's hard to avoid inbreeding when so many pandas share the same blood."
Panda researchers have shifted their focus from quantity to quality, he said. "We're no more satisfied with the mere expansion of the species. Rather, we are aiming to improve the quality of the breeding."
Meanwhile, wild training of zoo pandas has topped the agenda at the Chengdu base and the Wolong center.
"The wild training is essential to improving pandas' survival skills in the wild," said Zhang Zhihe. "If successful, it will eventually help pandas restore their wild nature and save the species from extinction."
"The baby boom began in early July, with 23 cubs born in captivity - 14 at the Wolong research center, eight in Chengdu and one in Beijing," said Zhang Zhihe, director of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Since the boom, the total number of giant pandas in captivity at zoos worldwide had topped 300, a target Chinese scientists set in 2002, said Zhang. "It's good news, but the number is still not big enough for the bears to be taken off the endangered list."
Experts believe the 300 pandas in captivity are the minimum viable population for the species to reproduce and sustain itself.
Zhang and his colleagues have been working to expand the panda population by helping the sex-shy animals breed since the Chengdu base was founded in 1989.
"The growth in the number of artificially-bred pandas, however, was inevitably accompanied by a decline in the quality and genetic diversity, as many captive pandas are blood relations," said Zhang. "This will hinder the species' survival in the long run."
While all the captive-bred pandas were the offspring of 46 wild pandas first kept in zoos, he said 61.4 percent of them were the offspring of four pandas - Pan Pan and Dong Dong at the Wolong China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, and Ha Lan and Lin Nan at the Chengdu base.
Pan Pan alone had 107 offspring, said Zhang. "It's hard to avoid inbreeding when so many pandas share the same blood."
Panda researchers have shifted their focus from quantity to quality, he said. "We're no more satisfied with the mere expansion of the species. Rather, we are aiming to improve the quality of the breeding."
Meanwhile, wild training of zoo pandas has topped the agenda at the Chengdu base and the Wolong center.
"The wild training is essential to improving pandas' survival skills in the wild," said Zhang Zhihe. "If successful, it will eventually help pandas restore their wild nature and save the species from extinction."
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