Panda babies greet Year of the Monkey
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E-mail Xiinhua, February 6, 2016
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Giant panda cubs play with a Chinese knot at the Bifeng Gorge base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP), in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 31, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] |
A total of 26 pandas were born, including nine pairs of twins and one born to Mei Xiang at Washington's Smithsonian National Zoo of the United States in 2015. A record 23 cubs survived, the center said.
With the new cubs, the center currently has 218 pandas. The previous record was set in 2013, with 20 panda cubs added in a year.
Despite the early death of three cubs, the total number of survivors and twins have both set new records since the center was built in southwestern Sichuan Province in the 1980s, said Heng.
He attributed the baby boom to the more mature breeding techniques, frequent cooperation with foreign zoos and a bigger "talent pool" for the annual breeding program.
"Over the past two decades, we have seen a steady growth of pandas bred in our center, meaning we have more options when selecting healthy and biologically-suitable candidates for our breeding program," said Heng.
Giant pandas have a very low fertility rate because they are sexually inactive. Female pandas become pregnant only once a year and deliver three cubs at most each time.
The fertility of captive giant pandas is even lower because they do not move much, experts said.
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