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Taiwan pandas getting in the mood
By Li Xinran |
February 1, 2009, Sunday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
ONLY a month after Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan arrived in Taiwan, authority of the Taipei Zoo has begun to prepare for the production of the two mainland pandas.
The zoo has taken measures including a plan to air video lectures for the couple to serve them appropriate conditions for cub bearing, Xinhua news agency reported.
Ye Jie-sheng, director of the zoo, expressed his anticipation for the cubs next spring.
The zoo has arranged daily training for the pair to assist them increase physical strength and intimacy.
Food have been hung at the top of climbing facilities to urge them exercise their rear legs, which play important roles in giant panda's sexual intercourse, according to Xinhua.
Plastic balls were also prepared for their frolic activities.
Yuan Yuan, the female, has had some signs of oestrus, but the sexual life between the two should be after she matured, the zoo said.
Zoo keepers have started collecting their excrements and urines every day to test their hormone levels.
Tuan Tuan is still very quiet, Ye said.
Pandas' oestrus period is between March and May. Most of them only show their interest to the opposite sex in one or two days.
The pregnancy for a female panda is between 83 days to 200 days.
The 4-year-old bears officially debuted at a Taipei zoo on January 26, the first day of Chinese Lunar new year. Their names together means "reunion".
Traditionally, it's a time for family reunions at Spring Festival, or the new year holidays in China.
The two pandas had completed a month-long quarantine period since their arrival on December 23 last year.
More than 5,000 people visited the pandas within the first 90 minutes of the opening of the zoo Monday.
A total of 18,899 people flocked to the Taipei Zoo to see the pandas the next day, according to the zoo.
The zoo limits panda visitors to 22,000 each day.
The pandas, each weighing about 107 kg, completed a month-long quarantine that began when they arrived on December 23.
The pair came from a nature reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province as gifts from the mainland and became "sweethearts" of the island.
The city government estimates the pandas will attract about 6 million visitors to the zoo annually,
The mainland announced in May 2005 that it would give two giant pandas to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill. Their departure was delayed for more than three years. Improved cross-Strait ties made their journey to Taiwan possible.
Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered animals. There are about 1,590 pandas living in China's wild, mostly in Sichuan and the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu. Through 2007, there were 239 captive bred giant pandas in the country.
The zoo has taken measures including a plan to air video lectures for the couple to serve them appropriate conditions for cub bearing, Xinhua news agency reported.
Ye Jie-sheng, director of the zoo, expressed his anticipation for the cubs next spring.
The zoo has arranged daily training for the pair to assist them increase physical strength and intimacy.
Food have been hung at the top of climbing facilities to urge them exercise their rear legs, which play important roles in giant panda's sexual intercourse, according to Xinhua.
Plastic balls were also prepared for their frolic activities.
Yuan Yuan, the female, has had some signs of oestrus, but the sexual life between the two should be after she matured, the zoo said.
Zoo keepers have started collecting their excrements and urines every day to test their hormone levels.
Tuan Tuan is still very quiet, Ye said.
Pandas' oestrus period is between March and May. Most of them only show their interest to the opposite sex in one or two days.
The pregnancy for a female panda is between 83 days to 200 days.
The 4-year-old bears officially debuted at a Taipei zoo on January 26, the first day of Chinese Lunar new year. Their names together means "reunion".
Traditionally, it's a time for family reunions at Spring Festival, or the new year holidays in China.
The two pandas had completed a month-long quarantine period since their arrival on December 23 last year.
More than 5,000 people visited the pandas within the first 90 minutes of the opening of the zoo Monday.
A total of 18,899 people flocked to the Taipei Zoo to see the pandas the next day, according to the zoo.
The zoo limits panda visitors to 22,000 each day.
The pandas, each weighing about 107 kg, completed a month-long quarantine that began when they arrived on December 23.
The pair came from a nature reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province as gifts from the mainland and became "sweethearts" of the island.
The city government estimates the pandas will attract about 6 million visitors to the zoo annually,
The mainland announced in May 2005 that it would give two giant pandas to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill. Their departure was delayed for more than three years. Improved cross-Strait ties made their journey to Taiwan possible.
Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered animals. There are about 1,590 pandas living in China's wild, mostly in Sichuan and the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu. Through 2007, there were 239 captive bred giant pandas in the country.
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