China continues to take steps to save the critically endangered giant panda as it plans to open a fifth breeding centre for the animal.

Widely regarded as a national treasure, the country is trying to boost the animal’s population as the panda has notoriously low birthrates in captivity.

Four young adult pandas will be moved from a breeding base in the southwestern Sichuan province to a zoo in the central city of Changsha later this spring.

A cooperation agreement has already been initiated between the Changsha Zoo, located in the Hunan province, and the Sichuan province facility, according to zoo officials.

Xie Zhongsan, of the zoo, says that officials are still waiting on the forest authorities’ approval of the new breeding base that will employ a few giant panda experts to look after the animals and learn new ways to help them breed.

The giant panda is one of the world’s most endangered species, and with such low birthrates authorities have been trying anything and everything to encourage breeding. In an effort to increase the panda population experts in China have tried a variety of methods including sex exercises and the use of panda pornography.

The majority of China’s wild panda population is found in Sichuan but smaller populations also inhabit the northwestern Gansu province and Shaanxi. A report released in 2007 estimates that there are 239 pandas living in captivity in China, and 27 located outside the country.

Figures for the number of giant pandas remaining in the wild are more ambiguous, but general consensus estimates that there are nearly 1, 600 wild pandas left in China.

Research shows that giant pandas generally lose interest in reproductive activity once captured, so the most popular form of reproduction in captivity is artificial insemination. The average reproductive rate for the panda is an estimated one cub every two years.

By Taylor Turner

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