Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Giant Pandas in captivity

Zoos
There are few pandas in zoos, because there are so few in the wild. It is best to leave them in their natural habitat where they have a better chance of surviving. In 1988 there were 100 pandas in zoos and breeding centres in China, and 14 in zoos in cities (London, Paris, Madrid, West Berlin, Tokyo, Mexico City, Washington D.C.). They were all gifts from the Chinese government. The pandas were flown to the zoos where they have been kept and isolated for the rest of their lives. To own a panda is very prestigious for a zoo. Pandas in zoos are usually well cared for. Modern zoos provide trees that they can climb, and pools that they can dip in. Some pandas have toys to play with (balls, barrels, jungle gyms to climb). The bamboo is flown in for them. They have good air-conditioning, which is essential for their health. Zoo life is not natural for them, but they are kept as comfortable and healthy as possible.

Giant Pandas in zoos get much heavier, because they don't have much to do. They don't have to gather food, and they have nowhere to go. They walk a bit, but mostly lie around and gain weight. A few examples are Ping-Ping and Panduh. After four years at Moscow Zoo, Ping-Ping, a male, weighed 180 kg. After ten years at the Bronx Zoo, a female, Panduh, weighed 172 kg. In a way it is good that zoos have pandas, because they offer millions of people to see this rare creature. In 1987 two pandas visited the Bronx Zoo in New York for six months (Ling-Ling and Yong-Yong). About a million people came to see them. But many of the pandas in captivity are mentally disturbed. They can't mate, even if they do get a chance.

Breeding in captivity
Zoos cooperate in breeding programmes, but this is hardly ever successful. Even when a cub is born, it doesn't often survive. The first cub born in a zoo that survived, was born in China in 1963. Outside China there were no successful births until 1981, when a cub was born in Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. The cub was called Tohui, and is still there with three other pandas, all born there.

Previous: Communication          Home          Next: Save the G...


Feel free to send feedback, comments etc. to asharp9@hotmail.com