Pandas are known to have a low sex drive, which partially explains why they are so rare.

There are about 1,590 pandas living in the wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu. Another 180 are being bred in captivity.

Wolong Nature Reserve, the world's best-known panda breeding base in Sichuan and home to 86 giant pandas, said six pandas went missing in the quake, but five had been relocated.

Eight pandas at Wolong base were airlifted to a zoo in Beijing last week, and another six were taken to Sichuan's Ya'an base, which was less affected by the earthquake.

The eight pandas in Ya'an, about an hour's drive west of Sichuan's capital Chengdu, and more than 60 pandas at the Chengdu breeding center, were reported safe after the quake.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2008)