Lying flat out in an incubator, the 2-month-old giant panda cub, a fuzz of black and white no longer than a forearm, wriggled and squirmed as the keeper rubbed her neck and back.

Eyes not yet able to open, she struggled to rise, but each time flopped on her tummy, unaware of the laughter from tourists fighting to get a glimpse outside the nursery.

The as-yet unnamed infant panda is the latest success story in China's decades-long effort to save one of the world's most endangered species from extinction.

Her birth, and the fact she has survived for as long, is nothing short of a miracle, according to panda researchers.

Giant pandas once roamed much of East Asia, but poaching and human encroachment have pushed them further and further back until they are now mainly found only in the remote, rugged mountains of Sichuan Province.

The pandas' population has dwindled to a little more than 1,100 in the wild and 120 in captivity.

Panda populations in nature are still desperately low, but efforts in recent years to breed and raise the animals in captivity have had success, according to scientists at China's largest panda reserve in Wolong, Sichuan.

But the increasing numbers of pandas born in captivity - often through artificial insemination - and a much-improved survival rate has not come easy, they said.

Wolong reserve, where a majority of captive pandas live, has had 47 panda births either through artificial insemination or natural mating since 1983 when a breeding center was established there, said officials at the reserve.

The survival rate of pandas born there hit 100 percent last year, from 93 percent in 1998 and 70 to 80 percent or much lower in earlier years, said deputy director Wang Pengyan.

Other reserves and zoos have also seen good survival rates, although not as impressive as Wolong.

No bigger than a stick of butter, pandas at birth require 24-hour intensive care for at least the first four months of their lives, and sometimes up to six months.

"The most dangerous period is these six months," said Guo Feng, a researcher studying panda behavior at Wolong reserve.

Even now, with greatly improved survival rates, sanctuary workers do not dare to give the infant pandas names until after they survive this critical period.

The newborn in the incubator illustrates the sad predicament faced by giant pandas, a species loved around the world.

By necessity, mother pandas abandon one cub if they have twins, selecting to care for the stronger one because they only have enough milk and energy for a sole newborn.

The panda in the incubator was abandoned by her mother, Ying Ying, who herself was found neglected and rescued from the wild.

If born outside captivity, the baby panda would almost certainly have died. But in the reserve, she has at least a chance at life.

Caretakers rushed into her mother's pen minutes after the cub was born and took her away, to keep Ying Ying from accidentally crushing her as she cared for the first-born cub.

The staff have spent years painstakingly learning how to care for abandoned baby pandas who do not have their mother's care.

Initially, a formula of human and dog milk was the only fluid given to the cubs. But caretakers later learned to win the trust of the mother to a point where she allowed them to milk her.

That milk is precious and is a main reason for the increased survival rate, Wolong officials said.

Up to 10 people keep constant watch on baby pandas during the first few months of their lives.

Despite the successes in breeding and keeping baby pandas alive, an increasing number of experts are calling for China to instead put more focus on protecting the animals in the wild.

"It's good to have births rather than no births, but no matter how many pandas we have in zoos they're still not surviving on their own," said Pan Wenshi, a panda expert at Beijing University.

(esatday.com September 23, 2002)