CHINA: Chinese experts inseminate a 12-year-old giant panda after she refused to mate

Record ID: 1963324

  • Title: CHINA: Chinese experts inseminate a 12-year-old giant panda after she refused to mate
  • Date: 19th April 2012
  • Summary: CHENGDU, SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (CCTV - NO ACCESS CHINA) CHENGDU GIANT PANDA BREEDING CENTRE MALE PANDA TRYING TO GET CLOSE TO FEMALE PANDA NAMED "GRADE" VARIOUS OF GRADE WALKING AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHEN MIN, BREEDER AT CHENGDU GIANT PANDA BREEDING CENTRE, SAYING: "These male pandas seem to like her a lot and have been waiting around her a lot. Sometimes they don't even eat, they just wait for her." EXTERIOR OF PANDA HOUSE VARIOUS OF 12-YEAR-OLD FEMALE PANDA GRADE IN CAGE VARIOUS OF EXPERTS INSEMINATING GRADE VARIOUS OF GRADE'S PREVIOUS PANDA CUBS
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  • Location: China, China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Environment,Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA60WB2I4ZJR2LMZNM3TBQB5713
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Chinese experts have helped a 12-year-old female giant panda breed with artificial insemination after she showed little interest in her male partners, state media reported on Wednesday (April 18).
    After seeing the lack of affection the female panda, named "Grade", gave to her mates, staff at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Centre decided to use artificial insemination to assist, state television CCTV said.
    "These male pandas seem to like her a lot and have been waiting around her a lot. Sometimes they don't even eat, they just wait for her," said Chen Min, a breeder at the research centre.
    Grade has given birth to at least three cubs before, according to CCTV, with no additional information given.
    Considered a national treasure, pandas have come back from the brink of extinction but they remain under threat from logging, agriculture and encroachment.
    In 2004, a census by the Worldwide Fund for Nature found 1,600 pandas in the wild, most in Sichuan province.
    Pandas are difficult to breed because females ovulate only once a year and can only become pregnant during that two or three-day period.
  • Copyright Holder: CCTV (China) - NO RESALE MAINLAND CHINA
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