Giant panda experts and zoologists are working on a worldwide
effort to select genetically diverse mates to ensure the birth of
healthy panda cubs.
Why the fuss? Because statistics indicate that 78 percent of female
giant pandas cannot bear cubs while 90 percent of their male
counterparts suffer from sterility, partly due to inbreeding.
On
Saturday, 40 experts, nature reserve administrators and zoologists
from home and abroad gathered in Chengdu, capital of southwest
China's
Sichuan Province, to discuss methods for improving the quality
and quantity of giant pandas that live in protection centers or
zoos in China and foreign countries.
Due to their limited number and divided management over their care,
giant pandas in captivity suffer from inbreeding, and this is
affecting the quality of their cubs in varying degrees, experts
said.
Seminar participants worked towards mapping out a five-year
management and implementation plan that would involve matching up
giant pandas with a mate.
There are about 100 giant pandas bred in research centers around
the world. More than 30 of them live in the Chengdu Giant
Panda Breeding and Research Base. Less than 1,000 giant pandas
exist in the world, and 80 percent of that total are found in
Sichuan.
Giant panda breeding and research centers around the world will
work hand in hand, conducting hereditary analysis and genealogical
system research, exchanging frozen sperm and even giant pandas,
experts said.
With the involvement of Chinese and US experts, the Chengdu Giant
Panda Breeding and Research Base kicked off the building of China's
first genome resource bank of endangered animal species last
year.
(China
Daily January 7, 2002)