Topic: Pandas Face Uncertain Future

[Firestarter]

By Chi-Chi Zhang

updated 7:43 a.m. PT, Mon., July 27, 2009
BEIJING - About 35 pandas at a reserve in southwestern China face an uncertain future after nearly a quarter of their habitat was destroyed by last year's powerful earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people, according to a study published Monday.

Large parts of Sichuan province — where most of the world's remaining wild pandas live — were devastated by the massive May 12 earthquake, which sent landslides crashing into river valleys and leaving 5 million homeless.

The landslides and mudflows destroyed 23 percent of the panda's habitat in the south Min mountain region and the remaining bamboo-rich land was left fragmented, potentially threatening the pandas' way of life, said Xu Weihua, the study's lead author and an ecologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

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"The Min mountains were the hardest-hit habitat during the earthquake and the isolation of the pandas into small groups caused by land fragmentation spells trouble for its inhabitants," said Xu, whose article written with six other researchers was published in the ecology journal, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

"Such isolation could lead to the risk of their extinction caused by inbreeding," he told The Associated Press.

The last count of pandas in the area in 2001 found just 35 of them.

 
 
The study called for more conservation in the remaining habitat areas and the creation of corridors that would link the fragmented areas and allow the pandas to interact more.

The 2,352 square-mile south Min mountain region, where the edge of the Chengdu basin meets the edge of the Tibetan plateau, is home to four nature reserves.

Researchers do not know how the pandas mentioned in the study are coping with the recent changes in their environment, said Lu Zhi, a panda expert and director of the Center for Nature and Society at Peking University.

"We know that the Min mountains were one of the hardest-hit panda habitats during the earthquake, but we really have no idea how these pandas reacted to the earthquake," Lu said in an interview.

"Pandas prefer gentler slopes, so what's left of this steep region is not conducive to their natural preferences and could affect their survival," she said.



Pandas already are threatened by loss of habitat, poaching and a low reproduction rate. Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan province. An additional 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos.

Researchers in Sichuan last week welcomed the first panda born from frozen sperm — an innovation scientists hope will help the endangered species avoid extinction.

The panda breeding center at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center was also damaged by the earthquake, whose epicenter was just 20 miles away.

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Pandas could be extinct in 2-3 generations
         
Panda Bears Mon Aug 17, 1:46 am ET

BEIJING (AFP) – China's giant panda could be extinct in just two to three generations as rapid economic development is infringing on its way of life, state media said on Monday, citing an expert at conservation group WWF.

The problem is that the pandas' habitat is being split up into ever smaller patches, preventing the animals from roaming freely for mating partners and in turn endangering their gene pool, the Global Times reported.

"If the panda cannot mate with those from other habitats, it may face extinction within two to three generations," said Fan Zhiyong, Beijing-based species programme director for WWF. "We have to act now."

The risk of inbreeding is increasing, threatening to reduce the panda's resistance to diseases and lowering its ability to reproduce, the paper said.

Fan said that highways pose major restrictions on the panda's free movement.

"We may have to give up building some infrastructure," Fan said. "I don't know the solution to this problem."

There are about 1,590 pandas living in the wild around China, mostly in southwestern Sichuan, northern Shaanxi and northwestern Gansu provinces. A total of 180 have been bred in captivity, according to earlier reports.

In addition to environmental constraints, the animals' notoriously low libidos have frustrated efforts to boost their numbers.

Breeders have resorted to tactics such as showing them "panda porn" videos of other pandas mating, and putting males through "sexercises" aimed at training up their pelvic and leg muscles for the rigours of copulation.

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China sends panda expert to Taiwan to aid breeding

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TAIPEI, Taiwan – Nothing like a little time apart to rekindle the affections that could lead to a baby panda.

So says a panda expert sent by China to Taiwan to advise on how to encourage mating by the pair given by Beijing last December to mark the two sides' growing friendship.

After inspecting the pandas at the Taipei Zoo on Sunday, Chinese panda expert Zhang Hemin suggested a separation of a month or two might boost the feeling of attraction needed to reproduce.

"They may have more interest toward each other after a brief separation," said Zhang, a researcher at the Wolong Natural Reserve in western Sichuan province where the pandas are from.

China presented Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, which together mean "reunion," to Taiwan last December amid warming ties between the mainland and the island, which split amid civil war in 1949.

They have proved popular and many Taiwanese now wish to see them produce a baby in their new home.

Zhang said the environment at the Taipei Zoo was natural enough and would not hamper their breeding, but the animals may have become too used to each others' presence.

Zhang also suggested that to prepare the male, Tuan Tuan, for the vital mating act, the zookeepers should set up more wooden racks so he can climb around and strengthen his hind legs.

If all works, the much anticipated act could come during the pandas' brief mating season in February, Zhang said.

Pandas are threatened by a low reproduction rate. Females in the wild normally have a cub once every two to three years, and the fertility of captive giant pandas is even lower, experts say.

Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in China's Sichuan province. An additional 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and about 20 live in zoos outside China.

China initially offered the pandas to Taiwan in 2005, but the then pro-independence government of Chen Shui-bian rejected the gift as propaganda to push for unification. After Ma Ying-jeou of the rival Nationalist Party was inaugurated in May last year, he accepted the offer.