Spreading more and more giant pandas around the globe is perhaps the answer, and that way the notoriously inconsistent breeders will have an opportunity to flourish worldwide. With 7 zoos now exhibiting pandas outside of China, and Adelaide, Edinburgh and Oakland all looking like good bets for the future, at least China is easing up on the severe restrictions of the past.
@boof: I suppose that no one has heard or seen anything about the design for the new giant panda enclosure at Adelaide. Whoever does read anything will hopefully post it here right away as we are all anxious to see the plans.
The Giant Panda studbook is administered by the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base just outside Chengdu (which has been largely unaffected by the recent earthquake). An committee from the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens defines the breeding recommendations for each panda each year based on their genetics and representation - both inside and outside China. All pandas remain the ownership of the P.R. of China and the wild born ones remain inside China.
The giant pandas inside P.R. of China have already been put out in several breeding centers to spread the risk of catastrophe. Apart from the Chengdu GP Breeding Base, there is Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Base, Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding Base (where most of the sub-adult and older pandas have been sent in the last 2 years) and Ya'an Giant Panda Breeding Base. Others are on exhibit purposes at zoos around China (with Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai and Xian also being designated breeding centers).
Was the emphasis in developmental years on AI, more and more research and experience in panda ecology, biology and genetics has improved the natural mating capabilities of the species (currently 30% of all matings is by natural means and increasing).
Further panda loan agreements have been made with Japan (Shirahama, Kobe, Nagano and Tokyo Ueno), US (San Diego, Washington NZP, Atlanta and Memphis) and EU (Berlin and Madrid) and some in Chapultepec Zoo, Mexico City. These pandas all originate from captive-breeding at Wolong or Chengdu. Adelaide, Tokyo Ueno and Taiwan are all scheduled to receive pandas in the near future from either Wolong or Chengdu.
No need to further spread the "risk around" as some have suggested here. The pandas are quite safe where they are now, allthough obviously a lot of rebuilding the infrastructure is required at the Wolong Center and the surrounding panda reserves (where reserve staff have either been injured or worse still killed out right). It is better to invest in other endangered species breeding programmes that could benefit from captive-breeding and let the CAZGA and the satellite zoos outside P.R. of China - who are already providing extra technical and financial support to Wolong and their Chinese counterparts - do their bit for panda conservation in China.
The CAZGA captive-breeding programme is now at a stage with (ca. 220-230 captive pandas inside P.R. of China) to start reintroduction exercises. In 2006/7 a male was released in Wolong, allthough later killed by a territorial wild panda. The current project is 2.2, of which the intention is to release a pregnant captive-bred female in the Wolong area (the earthquake may have put the project on hold for the time being).
The in situ component of the giant panda breeding centers is research and monitoring of wild pandas and their habitats, providing funds for establishing corridors between the panda reserves (currently at 27 in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces). No detailed surveys or monitoring has yet been done to ascertain the current status of wild giant pandas after the earthquake. The first assessment is that wild pandas tend to live inconspicuous lives in shallow valleys and hence may have escaped the brunt of all these landslides and flattening of inaccessible mountainous areas. I expect in the next few weeks and once aftershocks have subsided reserve and research staff will go back into the forests to monitor the wild pandas once more.
It is worth mentioning that most reserves in Sichuan not only contain wild pandas, but equally endangered species like serow, takin, red pandas, golden monkeys and several pheasant species. It is worth mentioning that these reserves play a vital role in securing this mountain ecosystem. Both the Chengdu Giant Panda Base and to a lesser extent Wolong Center have other species like the above mentioned being bred at their centers.
For starters keep reading the San Diego updates on Wolong that come out every now and then. If you still feel uneasy, chip in and give their appeals a few bob for the Wolong Center!
