Pandas shaken, not stirred
In the five years since a magnitude 8.0 earthquake devastated Sichuan Province, 45 giant pandas have been born in the Wolong National Nature Reserve, sources have revealed.
Though the deadly earthquake, which struck on May 12, 2008, terrified Wolong's giant pandas and damaged the facilities in the reserve, the breeding of the animals has been maintained at the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center.
But the number of births slowed to fewer than 10 each year from more than a dozen before the quake, as the center has focused on the health of each panda born, Zhang Hemin, the center's director, said before the fifth anniversary of the natural disaster.
"We seek to breed from the best pairs to avoid inbreeding," explained Zhang, one of a number of insiders who spoke to Xinhua about how Wolong's redevelopment has boosted their capabilities in nurturing the endangered animals.
A refuge endangered
The center is the world's largest giant panda breeding facility, currently housing 170 captive pandas, which were previously scattered throughout the reserve. It is located only 10 kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake in Wenchuan county.
Following the quake, most of the pandas and staff in the center at that time were transferred to another breeding facility in Ya'an, some 140 kilometers from the provincial capital, Chengdu.
That facility itself fell victim to similar circumstances when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Lushan county of Ya'an on April 20 this year.
Thankfully, it remained mostly intact, with all 61 of its pandas reported safe.
Meanwhile, a new center for panda breeding and research, sponsored by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), has been built on less rugged terrain in Huangcaoping in the Wolong reserve, with the capacity to accommodate 80 captive pandas, said Li Desheng, deputy chief of the reserve.
The new center will feature 13 training zones designed to equip captive pandas for life in the wild. Their area ranges from half the size of a football court to one square kilometer.
"The new center can accommodate about 80 pandas, but it is mainly used for captive pandas currently and the training zones for life in the wild are not in use," said Huang Yan, deputy engineer-in-chief of the center.
But while there are a limited number of pandas there at present, it will likely not be fully utilized until the completion of a key road that will make the remote Wolong area more accessible, according to Li, who added that it is still not known when the workers will finish the job.
Ongoing risks
Li said that if the pandas were transferred to the new center, then geological disasters cut off the road again, supplies to the center could be affected.
The road was cut off during the 2008 earthquake, and it was repaired by the end of 2008; however, it was cut off twice by large mudslides in 2010 and 2011.
The Hong Kong SAR government has also helped build the Giant Panda Rescue and Disease Control Center in nearby Dujiangyan.
This facility is of great importance as a rising number of captive pandas living in close quarters increases the likelihood that diseases might be transmitted.
Pandas are susceptible to a wide range of maladies, including gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.
In addition to disease control and treatment, the Dujiangyan base will hold a care center for aging pandas.
The animals' average life expectancy is 25 years.
Throughout all these developments, the protection of the endangered species has taken a step forward, with more captive pandas brought to the wild to test their ability to survive on their own.
"Training them to live in the wild is the key to increasing the panda population and it has been the focus of our work in the post-quake period," Zhang Hemin said.
Small steps
Zhang's center launched a training program in 2003 and Xiang Xiang, a male panda, was released into the wild in 2006. But Xiang Xiang died a year later after falling off a cliff.
The program was restarted two years after the quake and another five newborns were brought in to wean them from human care.
In 2010, Tao Tao, a male panda, became the center's second to venture into the wild after two years of training. Staff monitoring Tao Tao say he is doing well in his new environment.
Some pregnant pandas capable of feeding themselves are placed in a semi-wild environment to deliver cubs and care for them with little human intervention, explained Huang.
In order to monitor pandas' activity in the wild, GPS devices are affixed to rings tied around their necks, according to Li.
But the training program faces many challenges as experts are still struggling to understand how captive pandas adapt to a new, wild environment and when they are ready to live on their own.
"Generally speaking, a panda must be able to find food and defend itself from predators to survive in the wild," Huang noted.
Yet collecting data on how well pandas are doing, away from staff assistance, may run contrary to the need to reduce human intervention in the wild, he added.
"We are still learning, and will bring more pandas into the program," Huang said. "The earlier they learn to live in the wild, the better."
Wu Daifu, a deputy head of Wolong's wild training base, said that six pandas are receiving wild training at present, and will be released to the wild gradually.
"According to the plan, one more panda will be released to the wild this year, but it depends on the training situation," Wu said.