June 22, 2002

Panda love blooms under researcher's match-making efforts

by Sue Nichols

WOLONG NATURE RESERVE, Sichuan Province, China – Before Hemin Zhang came on the scene, panda love was in the dumps.

Before 1990, efforts to breed pandas in captivity had been met with frustration and painfully few babies. Whatever it took to make panda chemistry wasn’t happening in zoos or centers like the one in Wolong. That meant bad news for a species faced with extinction in the wild.

Zhang, director of the China Giant Panda Research Center, has since 1983 studied pandas.

"I’ve studied pandas in the wild for five years, so I understand the panda," he said.

This astute observation and the ability to duplicate natural conditions in captivity have had an impact on the success of panda breeding.

They also have made Zhang something of a Masters and Johnson of pandas – the guy who can put the wild in wildlife.

In the past 10 years, there have been 54 panda cubs born in Wolong. Forty-one have survived.

While Zhang is a respected and renowned scientist, when he talks about panda breeding, he sounds more like Dr. Ruth – complete with the gleeful enthusiasm for good sex, panda style.

Among his techniques:

• A better understanding of the panda’s socialization. He gets the boys and girls together more, creating panda mixers, so the pandas they know each other better when it’s time to get down to business.

• Understanding of mate selection. Female pandas in heat let a group of males fight over them, then select the winner. Competing also is important to ready the male for mating.

• Appreciating that the guys have needs, too. In the beginning of Zhang’s program, only 20 percent of the males were able to mate in captivity.

  Zhang realized they needed a little help. He started them in mating training. This included exercise in natural surroundings, and spurring them to walk on their back legs, tempted by apples dangled high above their heads. A panda’s back legs need to be in good shape for mating.

  He also had the male pandas watch videos of other pandas mating. He figures they mostly learn from the vocalizations, but in any case, it seems to work.

The 61 pandas that cavort in his center are testament to his methods – and have given hope to the goal of eventually restoring pandas into the wild.

"The panda is a symbol," he said. "It is a creature that has changed itself to adapt to the environment, while people change the environment to suit themselves. We must learn from the panda. They are important."