Wild training for pregnant pandas
Source: Xinhua |
June 4, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Panda researchers at Wolong base in southwest China's Sichuan Province are planning to release six more pregnant bears into a semi-wild environment this year.
This is part of an initiative to return more captive-bred pandas to the wild.
It is aimed at expanding a "wild training" program that has proven successful with panda mother Cao Cao and her cub, Tao Tao, the first baby panda born under wild training, said Huang Yan, a senior zoologist and head of Wolong's wild training base.
"These pandas are very healthy and have acquired basic survival skills," he said.
Tao Tao survived a blizzard in March and has become more independent since then. "He's learned to mark and guard his territory, a trait only wild pandas have."
Cao Cao was released into a semi-wild environment at Wolong Nature Reserve during her pregnancy in July 2010. A month later, she gave birth to male cub Tao Tao.
In February, mother and cub were transferred to a larger training base in Wolong. Though still fenced, their new home, rich in vegetation, is almost the same as the wilderness.
They will live there until the young panda is two and a half years old, in early 2013, said Huang. Then, Tao Tao will be released into the mountains.
Panda keepers will stop feeding the two pandas by the end of this year and leave them to forage for their own food, Huang said.
Over the past year, zoologists have kept an eye on the pandas and continued to provide them with food when necessary. To simulate a wild environment as much as possible, zoo workers and vets who entered the zone always disguised themselves as pandas by donning black-and-white fur coats and crawling on the ground.
In the next phase of the wild training, however, workers will use the sounds and smells of panda's natural enemies, such as leopards, to enhance the bears' vigilance.
China's program to release captive-bred pandas back into the wild began in 2003. A cub was released in 2006, but was found dead 10 months later, after apparently being attacked by wild pandas. The program resumed last year.
Most giant pandas in captivity are not good breeders. Only 24 percent of females in captivity give birth, threatening repopulation efforts.
This is part of an initiative to return more captive-bred pandas to the wild.
It is aimed at expanding a "wild training" program that has proven successful with panda mother Cao Cao and her cub, Tao Tao, the first baby panda born under wild training, said Huang Yan, a senior zoologist and head of Wolong's wild training base.
"These pandas are very healthy and have acquired basic survival skills," he said.
Tao Tao survived a blizzard in March and has become more independent since then. "He's learned to mark and guard his territory, a trait only wild pandas have."
Cao Cao was released into a semi-wild environment at Wolong Nature Reserve during her pregnancy in July 2010. A month later, she gave birth to male cub Tao Tao.
In February, mother and cub were transferred to a larger training base in Wolong. Though still fenced, their new home, rich in vegetation, is almost the same as the wilderness.
They will live there until the young panda is two and a half years old, in early 2013, said Huang. Then, Tao Tao will be released into the mountains.
Panda keepers will stop feeding the two pandas by the end of this year and leave them to forage for their own food, Huang said.
Over the past year, zoologists have kept an eye on the pandas and continued to provide them with food when necessary. To simulate a wild environment as much as possible, zoo workers and vets who entered the zone always disguised themselves as pandas by donning black-and-white fur coats and crawling on the ground.
In the next phase of the wild training, however, workers will use the sounds and smells of panda's natural enemies, such as leopards, to enhance the bears' vigilance.
China's program to release captive-bred pandas back into the wild began in 2003. A cub was released in 2006, but was found dead 10 months later, after apparently being attacked by wild pandas. The program resumed last year.
Most giant pandas in captivity are not good breeders. Only 24 percent of females in captivity give birth, threatening repopulation efforts.
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