Feature: Adelaide longs to have giant panda cub this spring
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E-mail Xinhua, August 12, 2013
August in the Southern Hemisphere means winter is at its final stage. And with spring not far behind, the Adelaide Zoo hopes that finally, they will have a new addition to the paid that they have.
The two young residents in the zoo, giant pandas Wang Wang and Funi, will be having new trial to breed after failing in the past two breeding seasons.
Around the world, breeding of giant pandas are notoriously difficult. However, the good news earlier this year from Chinese Taiwan, where pandas Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan successfully had their new cub, greatly inspired the panda keepers, veterinarians and reproductive scientists in Adelaide.
At a press conference held in front of the Giant Panda Exhibit on Wednesday, the zoo announced that behavioural and physiological signs indicate that Wang Wang and Funi are within weeks of the breeding season as zoo keeping and veterinary staff work hard to finalize preparations.
During the upcoming breeding season Adelaide Zoo staff and panda reproductive specialist from China, Huang Yan, will be supported by endocrinology and cytopathology scientists, who will analyze daily urine samples and vaginal cytology slides to determine the peak of Funi's oestrous cycle.
Simone Davey, Adelaide Zoo Senior Panda Keeper, said the past two weeks have seen significant changes in Wang Wang and Funi's behaviour. Both Wang Wang and Funi's activity levels have increased and they are showing prolonged rutting behaviours, for example power-walking around the exhibit, scent marking and lots of climbing, especially for Funi. "For the rest of the year, they don't really pay any attention to each other. So it would be exciting for them realizing, I guess, there is a male in the area or there is a female in the area, and wanting to get closer," she said.
Davey said that these are exactly the behaviours people would expect to see in the lead up to the breeding season, although light and temperature will also play a big part in determining when Funi will come into season. If Adelaide continues to experience dark and cold days it will delay the onset of oestrous.
Dr. David McLelland, Adelaide Zoo veterinarian, said hormone analysis will indicate the best time to utilize artificial insemination, a common practice among all institutions that house giant pandas.
The zoo is hoping for a natural mating as it is clear the pair is compatible, however, young age and inexperience have prevented a successful mating in the two previous breeding seasons. "I don't think he (Wang Wang) is lazy at this point. I think he is still a young boy, going to his teenage years. He doesn't really know what's going on and didn't know how to respond to when Funi was coming to him last year," McLelland said. McLelland said artificial insemination will be used alongside natural breeding attempts and is a vital breeding technique due to pandas' unique reproductive biology with a very short reproductive window of 48 to 72 hours.
A successful Southern Hemisphere panda birth will be a world first and a major coup for the zoo and international efforts to preserve this majestic creature. In conserving giant pandas, a positive flow on effect also results for countless species inhabiting the mountains of China.
Elaine Bensted, chief executive officer of Adelaide Zoo, said before the two giant pandas were brought to Adelaide in November 2009 the average volume of visitors had been stable at 350,000. Within the two years after Wang Wang and Funi settled there, the zoo had seen a big increase of visitors to 500,000 a year.
"We saw a big increase in the number of people visiting Adelaide Zoo both local South Australians and people from around Australia and from New Zealand," said Bensted. "Obviously if we were successful, and we know it's a real challenge to have a successful panda bred in capacity, but if there was a cub born in Adelaide, we would expect to see another big increase in visitors. South Australians as well as those from other parts of Australia and New Zealand will be coming to see the panda cub for the first time," she said.
Wang Wang and Funi were released to their new enclosure in Adelaide Zoo that cost 35 million AU dollars (32 million U.S. dollars) called Bamboo Forest, on Dec. 13, 2009. Since then, they became the super stars and main attractions of the zoo.
The zoo has its own bamboo plantation to feed the two pandas but the public around Adelaide is welcomed to grow suitable bamboo and donate bamboo shoots to the zoo. Endi
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