Twenty-year-old giant panda Qing Qing is expected to set a new record in giving birth this autumn after she has been found to be still sexually active.

Qing Qing, born in 1984, had already produced a record 13 offspring, including four sets of twins, in nine births since 1989, said Yu Jianqiu, deputy head of the giant panda breeding and research center in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Qing Qing gave birth to her 13th baby in September last year.

Yu said the center had included Qing Qing on the list of giant pandas expected to give birth this year. Researchers found Qing Qing had been oestrus since the beginning of spring.

A female giant panda can become pregnant once a year and give birth to at least one baby each time. It becomes sexually mature at the age of four or five, and becomes infertile when it is about20.

Yu said Qing Qing was expected to become pregnant naturally, but if this was unsuccessful, researchers would help her through artificial fertilization.

Chinese zoologists have been successful in improving the birth rate of giant pandas in captivity, with over 90 percent of artificially-bred pandas surviving.

Giant pandas are believed to have been around during the time of the dinosaurs. The rare creatures are regarded as "state treasures" by the Chinese people.

About 1,000 giant pandas still live in the wild, mostly in the high mountains around the Sichuan Basin, and 140 live in captivity. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2004)