Raisers of a male giant panda "Qin Qin" in northwest China's Shaanxi Province are looking for a suitable spouse for him in a bid to carry on his lineage of rare brown-and-white pandas.

Qin Qin weighs 100 kg and has a height of 172 cm when standing up straight, according to the Qinling Safari Park in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi.

The 17-year-old Qin Qin, no longer "young man" for pandas, has no history of marriage, his raisers said.

Qin Qin is the only child of male panda "Wan Wan," who is black-and-white, and female "Dan Dan," who is brown-and-white.

The February-April period is the heat period for giant pandas. The Qinling Safari Park issued an emergency "appeal" to the world on Monday for seeking a spouse for Qin Qin, hoping the descendants could inherit the gene of the rarely seen brown-and-white pandas.

The raisers said it would be also OK for some organization to take Qin Qin's sperm away for a distant impregnation.

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. It is estimated that 1,590 giant pandas live in wild in China. Those in captivity totaled 183 in the Chinese mainland by the end of 2005. A giant panda has an average life expectancy of between 30 to 40 years.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2006)