A record 16 giant pandas have been born successfully in
captivity in China this year, according to Zhang Zhihe, chairman of
the China Giant Panda Breeding Technology Committee.
A total of 29 pandas were inseminated naturally or artificially
in spring this year and they gave births to 19 pandas in autumn, of
which two were still born and one failed to survive, Zhang
said.
The statistics included the births by Baiyun and Meimei, two
pandas lent to the United States and Japan. Meimei gave birth to
twins in early September in Japan.
Zhang said the survival rate of 84 percent was good news for the
protection of the endangered animal.
Chinese experts had long been devoted to the research of giant
panda physiology, pathology and breeding, and they had accumulated
enough experience to overcome difficulties in artificial
reproduction, Zhang said.
Giant pandas can only become pregnant once a year and give birth
to one or two cubs at a time. It is regarded as extremely difficult
for giant pandas in captivity to mate. The survival of panda cubs
is also an obstacle.
China started its artificial breeding program in the 1960s, but
did not see a major breakthrough in birth and survival numbers
until the end of the 1990s. Nine giant panda cubs born in captivity
survived in 2000, while 12 survived in 2001 and 10 in 2002.
Experts estimate that 1,000 giant pandas live in the wild in
high mountains around the Sichuan
Basin in southwest China, while about 140 live in captivity around
the world.
(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2003)