China's wild pandas have no problems in their "sex life." Male pandas fight to earn the right to mate and the fertility rate of female pandas are relatively high, according to Lu Zhibo, assistant professor in Beijing University's life science department.
For many years, the domestic and foreign media have reported that pandas don't "understand sex," because of their low procreation rate.
Lu Zhibo has spent nearly ten years studying pandas. In 1995, she became the World Wildlife Foundation's China project director, and is mainly responsible for the development and management of projects involving pandas.
She said, "I have been in the wild observing [pandas] for seven or eight years. The pandas in the wild can all procreate. They don't have a problem with their "sex life." On the other hand, pandas raised in captivity do not enjoy mating; especially male pandas who have no interest in sex. This is due to the changes in their environment and nutrition.
She pointed out that the procreation rate of wild pandas is normal. But the procreation rate of pandas in captivity is lower and most of them are impregnated via artificial insemination. Very few pandas in captivity mate naturally.
"Wild female pandas know how to raise their cubs and their offspring have a greater survival rate," Dr. Lu said, "In the wild, we have seen a female panda not eat or drink for more than twenty days to take care of its young, moreover, it licked its cub clean from head to toe, including the cub's feces."
"Pandas raised in captivity do not know how to take care of its young because there is too much human meddling."
(People's Daily)
