How Many Babies Can a Panda Have at Once
French and Chinese caretakers hold two panda cub twins at the Beauval Zoo in France on September 30, 2021. Photo: AFP
L years ago this calendar month, the cute behemothic panda became an ice-breaking mascot in the relationship between China and the U.s. as former U.s. president Richard Nixon received a promise in Beijing that two pandas would exist sent to the US. Simply unfortunately, l years later, while many people await back on this warm historical footnote, some brusk-sighted American politicians are demonizing the giant panda and People's republic of china'due south friendly gesture of offering the behave to other countries' animal research institutions and animal lovers.
Usa Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace said she planned to proceed with a shocking bill to break the deal made betwixt China and the US and stop the shipment of giant pandas born in the US back to China, asserting that giant pandas should not be used as"window dressing."
Was the overseas trip of the giant panda as a symbol of peace and friendship really simply a bit of flashy window dressing?
With the current conducting of collaborative research on behemothic panda conservation between China and 22 zoos in xviii foreign countries, the Global Times contacted four zoos in dissimilar countries that are working closely with China in this field, all of them appreciated the procedure and the results of their cooperation with their Chinese counterparts.
"The panda is a living fossil, the joint inquiry on giant panda conservation is a symbol of people-to-people exchanges, scientific enquiry, and biodiversity conservation between China and other countries, which has always been valued and taken seriously by all parties,"Zhu Wei, vice director of the Communication Constabulary Inquiry Center at the China University of Political Science and Police, told the Global Times.
In the past, exchanges related to giant pandas have demonstrated the wisdom of the Chinese government and private institutions in developing foreign relations, Zhu said, noting that the current giant panda "on-loan" do has already been a huge impetus for global scientific cooperation to protect this precious species shared by humanity.
Strict approval procedures
The so-called panda affairs has been hyped by some Western media that implied Mainland china has ulterior political purposes, but the truth is that it has never been a simple matter for China to transport pandas away. China has never used, given, or loaned pandas simply as some sort of a bargaining fleck, as some Western media outlets have claimed, Chinese experts on panda-convenance and protection told the Global Times.
Since the founding of the People'south Republic of Mainland china in 1949, People's republic of china has given a total of 23 behemothic pandas to nine countries every bit a token of friendship and goodwill. However, due to the scarcity of the species and the demand for better protection of the giant pandas, since 1982, the Chinese government put an end to the "give-away" policy, and from then on, articulation exchange and cooperation betwixt animal protection and research facilities in both countries became the only way for behemothic pandas to travel overseas and live there for a period of time.
The pandas are then offered on loan commonly on a cooperative research term from People's republic of china to some countries, during which whatsoever resultant offspring from breeding efforts would be owned by China.
China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens are responsible for the programs of sending pandas away once they receive applications from overseas institutes.
"Giant pandas are China's national treasures. In order to create a safe and healthy living surroundings for them, the housing weather, food supply, and medical enquiry conditions of the giant pandas are indispensable, and they need to be assessed and accepted past experts before they can exist sent out," said Wei Rongping, caput of Dujiangyan Qingcheng Mount Base of operations of Mainland china Conservation and Enquiry Center for Giant Panda, in Southwest China'south Sichuan Province, ane of the main enquiry bases that sends giant pandas abroad.
Wei pointed out that overseas zoos need to run across several conditions to conduct out giant panda enquiry cooperation with Cathay and acquire pandas on loan from Mainland china: Get-go, the site of the behemothic panda enclosure needs to have suitable climatic and ecology conditions; second, high-security pavilions need to be planned for the panda; third, the food for giant pandas is fresh bamboo, an adult giant panda needs about 40 kg of bamboo supply a 24-hour interval, and then it needs to have conditions to offer sufficient supply of bamboo; and finally, there must be a professional giant panda feeding and management team.
According to Wei, the base will communicate with foreign parties in accord with procedures after receiving international inquiry cooperation tasks on giant pandas. The partner countries volition provide 2 or three alternative sites for the designation of the panda pavilion. Chinese experts will comprehensively evaluate the pattern scheme and provide technical support during the construction process, and carry out assessments and approval subsequently completion.
At the same fourth dimension, the CWCA volition go along to follow upwards on the panda's life overseas and actively provide assist when problems arise.
On January 5, 2020, for instance, the CWCA sent a formal letter to South Korea'due south Everland Zoo subsequently the zoo violated the professional requirements for the protection of behemothic pandas equally information technology organized operation-related personnel to have close contact with behemothic panda cubs and produced entertainment programs, requesting the zoo to immediately stop such activates, end broadcasting or distributing the videos, and farther strengthen scientific rigor.
Shut scientific cooperation
Chinese experts on giant pandas and zoo staff overseas told the Global Times that collaborative inquiry on pandas has always been a professional person issue. Although these giant pandas have traveled far, Chinese research centers will not leave them unattended after their departure. The zoos in strange countries that host the pandas have as well valued the opportunity, and the research results have been very fruitful.
"We have nothing but success with our giant panda program," a spokeswoman for the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC said in a statement given to South Carolina news outlet The Postal service and Courier of Charleston, responding to Mace's ludicrous initiative.
According to the zoo, the collaboration with China in panda research has given the zoo an "unparalleled opportunity" to report the behavior, health, and reproduction of behemothic pandas, which has helped the zoo become a leader in the field of giant panda conservation enquiry.
Dan Ashe, president and chief executive of the US Association of Zoos and Aquariums, besides expressed his disapproval of Mace's bill. "This legislation would risk catastrophe a longstanding program that has contributed to the conservation of wild pandas," he said.
In addition to Nixon's visit to China that brought Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing to the The states in 1972, on December 6, 2000, giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived at the Smithsonian's National Zoo through the signing of the Giant Panda Cooperative Research and Breeding Agreement between the zoo and People's republic of china's CWCA, which was then renewed on December 7, 2020 that stipulates the giant pandas will proceed to live in the Zoo through 2023.
In exchange, the zoo contributes funds and expertise toward conservation efforts in China. For instant, United states entrepreneur David K. Rubenstein has donated a total of $12 million in support of the zoo'southward giant panda conservation program, funds that support conservation efforts in China, including research on restoring giant panda habitats, monitoring wildlife diseases, and public education about the species and its conservation.
A staffer surnamed Ito at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Japan told the Global Times via electronic mail that Chinese experts will come to the zoo to specifically teach on how to feed and raise giant pandas, how to take intendance of a pregnant panda to ensure the safe birth of the cub, and other technical aspects.
"Nosotros volition concretely report the situation of the behemothic panda in estrus to the Chinese side. The Chinese experts came to our zoo when the infant pandas were born in 2012 and 2017 and stayed for several months to assistance have intendance of them on the spot. Although they were not able to come to Japan because of the COVID-nineteen pandemic, when Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were born in 2021, the two sides formed a machinery where Chinese experts could answer questions from the zoo online at any time of the day," said Ito.
Ito noted that the Japanese and Chinese sides share many data with each other to promote the study on giant panda protection and have achieved fruitful results on panda breeding. Since giant pandas Li Li and Zhen Zhen came to the Ueno in 2011, four baby pandas have been born in zoo, which once became a hot topic in Japanese society, Ito said.
In Germany, Philine Hachmeister, deputy head of communication and marketing at Berlin Zoo told the Global Times that their zoo staff is likewise working closely with Chinese counterparts to protect behemothic pandas. In that location are monthly updates on the general health of the giant pandas and a spontaneous exchange of information on any state of affairs that may arise.
Hachmeister pointed out that the lending of two behemothic pandas paid for past the Berlin Zoo to China has been used to fund the piece of work of Chinese scientists, adding that the Berlin Zoo's panda-related profits are also 100 per centum used to support the excellent work of Chinese scientists in convenance, conservation, and reintroduction of behemothic pandas to their natural habitats.
A Chinese caretaker handles a cub after the female panda Huan Huan, which ways "Happy" in Chinese, gave birth at the Beauval Zoo on August 2, 2021.
In an interview with the Global Times, staff fellow member at France's Beauval Zoo said that their Beauval Nature Association has actively been working with People's republic of china on articulation research on giant panda conservation since the arrival of the pandas in 2012. They were as well grateful that two caretakers from the Chengdu breeding heart went to Beauval to intendance for giant panda Huan Huan'south babies during their starting time months.
Connecting people with nature
"Over the years, when I have guided visitors to the Smithsonian's National Zoo, I've seen a lot of elderly people telling their grandchildren the story of their first encounter with giant pandas and the astonishing Communist china they've learned about," Sophia Tsou, a bout guide who has been working at Washington for xviii years, told Global Times.
Many Americans will never forget that in April 1972, giant pandas Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing arrived in Washington to be greeted in the pelting by viii,000 American spectators. More than 1 one thousand thousand people visited the panda house in the first month of its opening.
The arrival of giant pandas brings far more scientific value to the various countries that host them.
"Since their inflow, the pandas have symbolized cross-cultural collaboration between the US and Mainland china," the Smithsonian's National Zoo says in a clarification of the giant panda program on its website.
The lively scene of many visitors in the panda business firm is still played out at the zoo today.
Afterwards taking thousands of visitors to the zoo to come across behemothic pandas over the years, Sophia said she besides got to know many behemothic panda lovers. "Some of them have become panda bloggers on social media, stay in the panda house for long periods of time to take photos, and share the cuteness of pandas with more than people," she said.
The staff of Beauval Zoo also described the inflow of giant pandas every bit a "bang-up story between Communist china and France."
People get together to watch giant pandas at an outdoor enclosure for the beginning time after the COVID-19 outbreak at Adventure World in Shirahama Boondocks in Nippon on October 21,2021. Photo: AFP
At the same time, in an email response to the Global Times, Edinburgh Zoo as well noted that the two giant pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian in Edinburgh accept played a critically important role in connecting people with nature and encourage behavior change is invaluable.
Edinburgh Zoo noted that every bit a consequence of Mainland china's conservation efforts, the status of behemothic pandas in the wild has been moved by the International Union for Conservation of Nature from endangered to vulnerable, which is "encouraging." In order to meet the challenge of more panda conservation, Edinburgh Zoo volition continue to donate substantial funds to support this work.
Sending rare animals to testify goodwill is one of the most of import ways of friendly exchanges among Asian civilizations. It has existed since ancient times. For example, China sent pandas to Japan in the Tang Dynasty, and other countries also sent lions and giraffes to Communist china in the by, Zhu noted.
"Some foreign media outlets deliberately elevated such interactions to solely a political human action, and misrepresented such friendly exchanges and scientific cooperation as predicated on political considerations, which is unnecessary,"Zhu said.
Source: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1253024.shtml
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