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Panda expert to give zoo advice on breeding

A Chinese expert on giant panda breeding will visit Taipei Zoo on Sunday to offer advice on breeding the two giant pandas given by China last year.

Li Chongxi (李崇禧), deputy secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Sichuan Provincial Committee, who is heading a delegation promoting trade and economic exchanges, said yesterday that Zhang Hemin (張和民), director of the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Research Center of China, will visit the zoo.

Li said the two pandas were selected based on their ability to breed.

Expressing the hope that the pandas will soon have a cub, Li said he invited Zhang to visit Taiwan to help with panda reproduction efforts because giant pandas, especially those in captivity, have low libido.

Given Zhang’s experience in panda research and his ability to help female giant pandas get pregnant and give birth, Li said that he believes Zhang would be able to help the Taipei Zoo pair reproduce.

Captive pandas usually reach sexual maturity at the age of five-and-a-half, and therefore it is too early for Taipei’s pandas to mate since they were born in 2004.

Yuan Yuan went into heat for the first time last year in China, but Tuan Tuan has yet to show interest, Zhang said.

He said giant pandas become sexually mature at different ages, but he suggested that their keepers should try to arouse the two pandas’ sexual instincts, enhance their natural mating ability and improve their reproductive capacity.

If those steps did not work, they could then try artificial insemination.

“It should not be a problem to have Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan produce offspring,” Zhang said, adding he was confident that his research center could help with panda breeding.

Li also said yesterday that if Yuan Yuan did give birth in Taipei, the cubs would not be sent back to China.
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