Extracts from China daily, North Ad Ed 22 Oct 1997
"Most of them have been bred in China's 30-odd zoos and nature reserves. The first artificially inseminated panda cub was born in 1978; in 1980, scientists used artificial insemination technology and frozen sperm to reproduce a panda successfully.
In 1990, Chinese scientists developed a method to ensure the survival of both cubs in the case of twin births, while in the natural condition the female panda always abandons one of hers twin cubs; in the same year, a set triplet cubs also survived."
"In Wolong National Reserve in Sichuan Province, researchers of the China Research Centre of the Giant Panda Reservation reproduced their first panda cubs in 1986.
From 1991 to 1996, the centre successfully reproduced 16 cubs, 11 of which are still living, which means the survival rate has risen to 70 per cent, much higher than the average. This year, panda breeders are glad to see that three of those captive born panda cubs have reached maturity and are ready to breed."
Just some facts and figures to show that captive breeding is successful in increasing the giant panda population :)
After reading all the posts, which method do you think benefits the panda's population the most? Why?
ReplyDelete-Lin Wei
I think that the ban on logging benefits the pandas the most. It ensures that the pandas have a place to live and food to eat. Even with the captive breeding progranme, I feel that it would be useless if the captive-bred pandas are unable to survive in the wild.
Delete-ZZ