Environment

A surge of post-earthquake panda births in Sichuan holds promise for the species

by Yuliya Talmazan | August 26, 2008 at 09:51 am

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Much to the delight of conservation biologists and zoo enthusiasts, nineteen panda cubs were born in captivity since May 12th earthquake hit the province of Sichuan, destroying many panda shelters and leaving many animals injured and short on food.

About 10 pregnant pandas from Wolong were transferred to the Ya'an base in Sichuan as the massive quake, which killed nearly 70,000 people, caused great damage to their habitat.

Researchers carried out psychological comfort on the pregnant mothers who were traumatized by the quake, according to Huang Yan, a Wolong center engineer.

Giant pandas, one of the most endangered species in the world, are notoriously difficult breeders.

Chinese experts say there are nearly 1,600 pandas living in the wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

Another 180 pandas are being raised in captivity in China.

Yesterday, happy panda pregnancy news came from the least expected of places -- London’s Zoo. Guardian reports local panda Ching-Ching appears to be pregnant and may give birth in just a month.

The far less common birth of a panda in captivity would be expected to bring up to half a million extra people a year through the turnstiles - rescuing the Zoological Society from the red and enabling it to claim a breakthrough in the conservation of rare animals.

The cub was conceived 18 weeks ago. It will be the first giant panda to be born outside China by artificial insemination.

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Lucidragon

at 18:16 on August 26th, 2008

We've seen several of the panda that have been born in the US. This photo is one in San Diego. There were a couple in the national zoo in Washington DC too. For those that do not know, all pandas are owned by China no matter where they are born. There was a 12 year contract with the US to have pandas in zoos. Any panda born must be returned to China by age three. This has no doubt been very helpful considering the recent problems there. I haven't heard whether the contract was renewed - I was told it was due to expire in 2008. So I would imagine it has been done or is in the works. If anyone has further info they should post it.

Yuliya Talmazan

at 18:30 on August 26th, 2008

Hi Lucidragon. Thanks for your insight. I did not know about most of the things you mentioned, like the 12-year-contract and having to export pandas back to China by age 3. This just serves to show how precious this little bear is to Chinese people.