Panda study gives conception insight

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 19

Panda study gives conception insight

NZPA-AP Peking An official news report has said that Chinese zoologists have made an important discovery about the low reproduction rate of the giant panda, one of the world’s most endangered species.

The Xinhua News Aggency said two scientists, Feng Wenhe, of Sichuan University, and Zhang Anju, of Chengdu Zoo, made the discovery when performing autopsies on seven pandas that died of starvation or illness since 1982.

They found that a giant panda female produces hundreds of eggs at a time like

a reptile, but only the largest egg matures and is discharged for fertilisation, narrowing chances of conception. Scientists disagree on whether the giant panda belongs to the raccoon or bear family. Native to China, there are an estimated 1000 in the wild, living in the south-central provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi. Since 1983, they have been threatened by a bamboo famine resulting from a rare flowering cycle of their favourite food. Known as “da xiong mao” — big bear cats — at least 42 have

starved to death. The Chinese Government has allocated 5.1 million yuan (about $35 million) to save the pandas by nursing sick animals, replanting bamboo, protecting their habitat, and moving some pandas to new reserves. Scientists have said, however, that one of their biggest long-term challenges is to improve panda reproduction. The animals are reluctant to mate in zoos and often fail to produce offspring after the brief spring mating season in the wild.