taipan

 

Excellent Profile Naflutie, and good choice of animal I've been waiting to post this picture for some time -

pterodectyle

 

Giant panda, (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

What animal is black and white and loved all over the world? If you guessed the giant panda, you're right! The giant panda is also known as the panda bear, bamboo bear, or in Chinese as Daxiongmao, the "large bear cat." In fact, its scientific name means "black and white cat-footed animal."

Giant pandas are found only in the mountains of central China -- in small isolated areas of the north and central portions of the Sichuan Province, in the mountains bordering the southernmost part of Gansu Province and in the Qinling Mountains of the Shaanxi Province.

Giant pandas live in dense bamboo and coniferous forests at altitudes of 5,000 to 10,000 feet. The mountains are shrouded in heavy clouds with torrential rains or dense mist throughout the year.

Giant pandas have existed since the Pleistocene Era (about 600,000 years ago), when their geographic range extended throughout southern China. Fossil remains also have been found in present-day Burma.

Giant pandas are bear-like in shape with striking black and white markings. The ears, eye patches, legs and shoulder band are black; the rest of the body is whitish. They have thick, woolly coats to insulate them from the cold. Adults are four to six feet long and may weigh up to 350 pounds -- about the same size as the American black bear. However, unlike the black bear, giant pandas do not hibernate and cannot walk on their hind legs.

The giant panda has unique front paws -- one of the wrist bones is enlarged and elongated and is used like a thumb, enabling the giant panda to grasp stalks of bamboo. They also have very powerful jaws and teeth to crush bamboo. While bamboo stalks and roots make up about 95 percent of its diet, the giant panda also feeds on gentians, irises, crocuses, fish, and occasionally small rodents. It must eat 20 to 40 pounds of food each day to survive, and spends 10 to 16 hours a day feeding.

The giant panda reaches breeding maturity between four and ten years of age. Mating usually takes place in the spring, and three to five months later, one or two cubs weighing three to five ounces each is born in a sheltered den. Usually only one cub survives. The eyes open at 1 « to two months and the cub becomes mobile at approximately three months of age. At twelve months the cub becomes totally independent. While their average life span in the wild is about fifteen years, giant pandas in captivity have been known to live well into their twenties.

Scientists have debated for more than a century whether giant pandas belong to the bear family, the raccoon family or a separate family of their own. This is because the giant panda and its cousin, the lesser or red panda, share many characteristics with both bears and raccoons. Recent DNA analysis indicates that giant pandas are more closely related to bears and red pandas are more closely related to raccoons. Accordingly, giant pandas are categorized in the bear family while red pandas are categorized in the raccoon family.

In 1869, a French missionary and naturalist named Pere Armand David was the first European to describe the giant panda. In 1936, clothing designer Ruth Harkness brought the first live giant panda, named Su-Lin, out of China and to the West. Su-Lin lived at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo and was a celebrity until he died in 1938. Today, 124 giant pandas are found in Chinese zoos. Only about 20 giant pandas live in zoos outside of China. In 1980, the first giant panda birth outside China occurred at the Mexico City Zoo.

Until recently, Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo housed Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, perhaps the most well-known giant pandas in North America. A gift from the People's Republic of China to the people of the United States, they were presented as a gesture of amity and goodwill to President Richard Nixon when he visited China in 1972. Ling-Ling, at age 23, died in December 1992.

Giant pandas are among the rarest mammals in the world -- there are probably fewer than 1,000 left in the wild. Although adult giant pandas have few natural enemies, the young are sometimes preyed upon by leopards.

Habitat encroachment and destruction are the greatest threats to the continued existence of the giant panda. This is mainly because of the demand for land and natural resources by China's 1 billion inhabitants. To offset this situation, the Chinese government has set aside eleven nature preserves where bamboo flourishes and giant pandas are known to live.

Giant pandas are also susceptible to poaching, or illegal killing, as their dense fur carries a high price in illegal markets in the Far East. The Chinese government has imposed life sentences for those convicted of poaching giant pandas.

The low reproductive capacity of the giant panda makes it more vulnerable to these threats, and less capable of rebounding from its low numbers.

In 1984 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the giant panda as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Endangered means a species is considered in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. The less dire designation of threatened means that a species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. This protection also prohibits giant pandas from being imported into the United States except under certain conditions.

The giant panda is also protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty among more than 140 nations aimed at controlling illegal trade in endangered animal and plant species. The Fish and Wildlife Service is the federal agency responsible for the U.S. government's compliance with CITES.

The Service has established a panda policy to assist zoos applying for giant panda importation permits. The policy focuses on the conservation of the species in the wild.

August 1998

http://www.fws.gov/species/species_accounts/bio_pand.html

taipan

 

How many pandas?
Monday 28 May 2007

On a March afternoon, there are so many pandas in the “kindergarten pen” at Wolong Nature Reserve in China’s Sichuan Province, it’s hard to keep track of their antics. One is attempting a handstand while three others are playing king of the hill. These carefree cubs – a record 19 from Wolong’s 2006 breeding season – are part of the dramatic comeback for a symbol of conservation: the giant panda. The toddlers may one day follow Xiangxiang, the first captive panda released into the wild in April 2006, as part of the campaign to prop up the wild population, estimated at 1,600 in 2001. China’s central government has increased the number of reserves from 13 a decade ago to 59 this year, with two to three coming online every year, says Wolong director, Hemin Zhang. The reserves cover 50% of the panda’s habitat and 75% of the population. The government has also banned logging of natural forests and started a “Grain for Green” campaign to encourage farmers to restore the native habitat.

Zhang says Wolong will soon build a new captive breeding facility that can house 300 pandas, a goal that would ensure the survival of the captive population for 100 years and maintain 95% of its genetic diversity. “We could reach this in eight to 10 years,” he says.

Almost two-thirds of captive panda births each year happen at Wolong, thanks to the reserve’s obsession with perfecting artificial insemination over the last 15 years and discovering in 2000 how to keep twins alive by removing one of them from the mother. But Zhi Lu, Conservation International’s China director, doesn’t share their joy. “They seriously need to ask themselves why they need 300 pandas, because maintaining a captive population is not cheap,” she says.

The reintroduction campaign took a serious hit this past December when a rival male badly injured Xiangxiang. Because of his mild manners from a captive upbringing, he has been having a difficult time fitting in with the wild crowd. And earlier this year, rangers lost track of him when his GPS battery died. Rangers were dispatched last month in a renewed search. “If Xiangxiang dies or not, we will continue this kind of work,” says Zhang. He expects more to be released in five years, although no plans have been made for reintroductions in the next two.

Some, however, question the need for a reintroduction component as part of captive breeding. “Why add another flower to the garden?” asks Lu. “There’s a reasonable population size already in the wild.”

The size of that population, it turns out, is a bit controversial. “The trend is that the pandas are coming back,” says Fuwen Wei, the principal investigator behind a population study that claimed the population might be double the estimate of 1998’s Third National Survey. Using DNA fingerprints collected from fresh feces, Wei was able to identify 66 individuals in a key reserve. The Third National Survey found just 27 in 1998.

That survey, however, sampled feces during a brief two-week window, comparing the lengths of chewed bamboo in the feces to distinguish between individuals, while Wei’s study sampled feces over a period of two years. “It’s like comparing how many people live in your house versus how many can fit in it,” says Dave Garshelis, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ (IUCN’s) bear specialist. “Frankly, their estimate seems preposterous.” He says the genetic method tends to make up individuals out of thin air, but the bite-size method may mistake two neighboring individuals as one, so the correct figure must lie somewhere in between.

If Wei’s study is correct, pandas would be off the IUCN’s Red List of endangered species. Gershelis says he chose to keep the panda listed as endangered this year, the first update in more than a decade, as a precaution. “What’s really happening on the ground is the population is doing very well ... but to drop it off the list would make some think it’s out of the woods,” he says. “I think panda conservation is a success story, but that doesn’t mean they are forever safe,” says Lu.

http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53115/

taipan

 

taipan

 

These carefree cubs – a record 19 from Wolong’s 2006 breeding season – are part of the dramatic comeback for a symbol of conservation: the giant panda. The toddlers may one day follow Xiangxiang, the first captive panda released into the wild in April 2006, as part of the campaign to prop up the wild population, estimated at 1,600 in 2001.

Lets hope they fare better than Xiangxiang!

Captive-born panda dies in the wild
May 31, 2007 02:37pm


A FIVE-year-old captive-bred panda fell to his death less than a year after he was released into the wild, possibly in a fight with other pandas, Xinhua news agency said today.

Xiang Xiang, the world's only artificially bred panda living in the wild, was released at the Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas in the mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan in April last year.

"Experts found the body of Xiang Xiang on February 19 and the panda might have fallen from a high place in a fight with wild pandas," Xinhua said, citing the China Giant Pandas Protection and Research Centre in Wolong.

The release of Xiang Xiang came after nearly three years of training to toughen him up at the research centre.

"Through surveillance we found out that Xiang Xiang had gradually adapted to the wild environment," said Zhang Hemin, director of the centre, said in July.

"We have also detected other wild pandas in the area, which means Xiang Xiang is being integrated into a wild population."

Researchers fitted a global positioning system device around the animal's neck to monitor his activities, CCTV said.

Surveillance of Xiang Xiang was to have continued until 2008 when the GPS hoop was to drop automatically after its battery ran out, Mr Zhang said.

"By then, our Xiang Xiang will have become a real wild panda."

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1000 live in Sichuan and in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in the northwest.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21826038-2,00.html?from=public_js

dasyurus

 

Giant panda gives birth to fourth cub
By staff writers
August 04, 2007 12:46pm

A 16-YEAR-OLD giant panda has given birth after a two-and-a-half-hour labour at San Diego zoo.

The panda, Bai Yun, has been on a 24-hour watch since zoo officials detected a foetal heartbeat in mid-July.

The sex of the new cub has not yet been released. The cub, which zoo officials have said is about the size of a "stick of butter" is Bai Yun's fourth.

"All we've seen so far is a leg and a tail," Dr Ron Swaisgood, co-head of the zoo's panda program, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

"This is a delicate period for the cub, but Bai Yun is an experienced mother," the zoo said.

Bai Yun demonstrated her parental prowess by deftly scooping up the cub and clutching it to her breast immediately after the birth.

"Usually the mother will bobble the cub or her paw will slip and the cub will cry until it's repositioned," said Dr Swaisgood.

"But (Bai Yun) was keeping that cub so content it didn't cry at all. It made a few squawks and that was it."

The birth was recorded on a CCTV camera installed by zookeepers, although the cub will not be seen for some days because pandas are such protective parents.

Bai Yun gave birth to Hua Mei in 1999. Hua Mei moved to China in 2004 and has since given birth to three sets of twins, the most recent coming only last month.

Bai Yun's second cub was a male, Mei Sheng, who was born in 2003. Her third, Su Lin, was born in 2005.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22187552-2,00.html?from=public_js

dasyurus

 

Surprise! Sexually suspect panda gives birth
Bear undergoes surgery to make her a ‘normal girl,’ then delivers twins


Updated: 12:57 p.m. ET Aug. 9, 2007

BEIJING - A panda once believed to be male and sent to Japan to breed with a female without success gave birth to twin cubs this week, state media reported Thursday.

The panda, Jinzhu, gave birth to two female cubs on Monday at the Wolong Nature Reserve in the mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan, 11 years after being declared male at birth in 1996, Xinhua news agency said.

“Jinzhu was believed to be male owing to her inconspicuous secondary sex characteristic and behavior,” the agency quoted Wei Rongping, assistant director of the reserve’s research center, as saying.


Jinzhu was sent to Japan in 2000 to mate with a female, the report said.

“When the pandas showed complete disinterest, experts decided to turn to artificial insemination, leading to the discovery that Jinzhu had no penis,” it added.


Jinzhu was sent back to China in 2002, with experts arguing the panda was either a hermaphrodite or had “undeveloped” sexual organs.

“The penis of an adult panda is only about 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) long,” which was a possible factor behind the mix-up, Xinhua quoted panda expert Li Deshen as saying.

It was not until 2005 that scientists discovered 9-year-old Jinzhu’s ovaries were positioned in the wrong place, and gave her a two-hour operation to make her a “normal girl,” Xinhua said. Jinzhu subsequently mated with a male in March 2007 and gave birth 142 days later, Xinhua said.

The giant panda is one of the world’s most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1,600 wild pandas live in nature reserves in China’s Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20198265/

dasyurus

 

Panda-monium! 4 born on same day in China
Births a rare occurrence; only 34 born in all of 2006

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 1:24 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2007
BEIJING - Four pandas were born in captivity in China on the same day, a rare occurrence after 34 were born in all of last year, state media reported Tuesday.

Xinhua News Agency earlier reported that three pandas had been born, but later said that 14-year-old Eryatou, who had delivered a female baby on Monday evening at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center in Sichuan province, later gave birth to a second female baby.

The first cub weighed 7.7 ounces (218.5 grams), and the second one weighed just 3.5 ounces (98.5 grams), Xinhua said.

Earlier on Monday, another panda mother named Jiaozi gave birth to a male and a female at the same center. This was the fifth delivery for 12-year-old Jiaozi since 2001, Xinhua said.

Chinese panda breeding centers now have reported 14 cubs born so far this year, with nine at the Chengdu center and the others at the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve, Xinhua said.

The panda is one of the rarest animals, with an estimated 1,590 living in the wild.

Another 210 have been bred in captivity, Xinhua said.

Of the 34 pandas born by artificial insemination in 2006, 30 survived. Both were record figures, Xinhua said.

The mating season for pandas usually runs from March to May, and pandas give birth only once a year, the news service said.

This report includes information from The Associated Press and MSNBC.com.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20260885/


A female giant panda looks at her baby at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu of southwest China's Sichuan province, Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. Four pandas were born in captivity in China on the same day, a rare occurrence after 34 were born in all of last year, state media reported Tuesday.

dasyurus

 

Giant Panda Can Survive

Science Daily — The giant panda is not at an "evolutionary dead end" and could have a long term viable future, according to new research involving scientists from Cardiff University

Previous studies have found that the giant panda's isolation, unusual dietary requirements and slow reproductive rates have led to a lack of genetic diversity that will inevitably lead the species to extinction.

Now a study by Professor Michael Bruford and Dr Benoît Goossens from the School of Biosciences, in collaboration with Professor Fuwen Wei and colleagues from the Institute of Zoology along with the China West Normal University in Sichuan, has found that the decline of the species can be linked directly to human activities rather than a genetic inability to adapt and evolve.

"Our research challenges the hypothesis that giant panda's are at an 'evolutionary dead end'" said Professor Bruford. "It is however clear that the species has suffered demographically at the hands of human activities such as deforestation and poaching".

The study gives a new genetic perspective on the giant panda, as well as tracing its demographic history. The research also shows that in areas where habit conservation projects are in place, the giant panda is flourishing and population numbers are increasing.

"Our research suggests we have to revise our thinking about the evolutionary prospects for the giant panda" said Professor Bruford. "The species has a viable future and possesses the genetic capacity to adapt to new circumstances. Conservation efforts should therefore be directed towards habitat restoration and protection. In their natural environment, the giant panda is a species that can have a bright future."

The research is reported in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Cardiff University.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070824104831.htm

dasyurus

 

Super-Fertile Panda Couple

Tuesday November 27, 2007

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Giving each other space may not work in every relationship, but it's what keeps the magic alive for the very fertile giant panda pair at the San Diego Zoo.

Since 2003, Bai Yun and her consort, Gao Gao, have produced three cubs, making them one of the most reproductively successful panda couples ever in captivity. Their youngest offspring, a chubby female, will be named Monday when she reaches 100 days old, following Chinese tradition.

For all but two days of the year, Bai Yun (White Cloud) and Gao Gao (Big Big) lead separate lives, gnawing on bamboo and taking long naps in pens far apart, much as wild pandas — naturally solitary creatures — would hide from each other in mountain forests.

But when Bai Yun enters her brief fertile periods, zookeepers make sure Gao Gao is there, sniffing her through a perforated gate zookeepers call the "howdy door" until her chirps and bleats indicate she's ready to get down to business.

"For 363 days a year they don't want to have anything to do with each other," said Ron Swaisgood, co-head of the zoo's panda research unit.

Pandas are notoriously poor breeders — one reason their species is endangered — and females have only three days a year in which they can conceive. Only about 1,600 giant pandas remain in the wild, and fewer than 180 live in captivity.

While pandas have been born at the zoos in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Bai Yun and Gao Gao have been the most successful. Bai Yun has had four panda cubs — three with her "super" mate.

Bai Yun gave birth to her first cub in 1999 through artificial insemination from her first arranged suitor, Shi Shi (Stone). It was the first giant panda cub in the U.S. after a decade of failed breeding attempts.

Bai Yun also gave birth to a male panda in 2003 and to a female panda in 2005 before having her latest this year.

Gao Gao arrived in San Diego in 2003 after veterinarians gave up on Shi Shi, who turned out to be older and less virile than originally believed and was returned to China.

Putting the virgin Bai Yun with Gao Gao, who had not mated before, caused some concern. Swaisgood thought it might be like "the blind leading the blind." Instead, Gao Gao surprised everyone by mating with Bai Yun three times in a single day.

Gao Gao is aggressive during the first 24 hours of her cycle and then wanders back to his bamboo pile once he's had his fill — even if Bai Yun beckons him with her customary booty-shake.

"He only has interest in her for one day, but day two or day three, when she's still exhibiting interest, he just has nothing to do with her," said Kathy Hawk, the zoo's senior panda keeper. "He seems to be a one-shot guy, but she's gotten pregnant each time. He knows what he's doing."

The newest cub remains hidden with Bai Yun in a cozy den that can only be seen by the public via Webcam. The zoo will announce the cub's name from among four finalists: Li Hua (Beautiful China), Ming Zhu (Bright Treasure), Xiao Li (Little Beauty) and Zhen Zhen (Precious).

—Allison Hoffman, The Associated Press



http://www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_071127.html

taipan

 

To Catch A Panda

ScienceDaily (Dec. 10, 2007) — Michigan State University's panda habitat research team has spent years collecting mountains of data aimed at understanding and saving giant pandas. Now a graduate student is working to catch crucial data that's black, white and furry.

Vanessa Hull, 25, a Ph.D. candidate, is in the snowy, remote mountains of the Sichuan Province of China -- which also is the heart of panda habitat. She's hoping to capture, collar and track up to four wild pandas using advanced global positioning systems.

Hull, a student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is among the first since the 1990s in this crucial area to obtain permits to trap the pandas and fit them with GPS collars. She and the team will map where these elusive creatures go, effectively letting the pandas tell the researchers the habitat they like best.

"Reintroducing captive pandas into the wild is a very difficult process because pandas in captivity aren't used to be in wild, they don't have the survival skills," Hull said. "The researchers in China want to collaborate with us closely."

Scientists can mesh what the pandas tell them with that mountain of data. It can help them identify the most hospitable panda neighborhoods, learn how to preserve those and create more.

"We are very excited about this new project. It will generate lots of long-awaited important information about panda biology, behavior and interactions with human activities," says Jianguo "Jack" Liu, Hull's major adviser, Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability and University Distinguished Professor of fisheries and wildlife.

For the past dozen years, the MSU Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, led by Liu, painstakingly has gathered and crunched data on the pandas' habitat, in collaboration with Professor Zhiyun Ouyang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director Hemin Zhang at Wolong Nature Reserve.

With support from the National Science Foundation, NASA, National Natural Science Foundation of China and other sources, the scientists have made groundbreaking discoveries on the give-and-take between panda and human survival in the bamboo jungles, mountains and farmland of the Wolong Nature Reserve, home of the famous panda research and breeding center.

The giant pandas are the darlings of their native China and the world. But walk through panda habitat and they're invisible. Pandas are endangered. Estimates of panda numbers in the wild range from 1,600 to 3,000.

Pandas are particular. Nonnegotiable to the panda is a home that offers lots of choice bamboo, mature trees strong enough to hold a napping panda, ideal temperature and a comfy slope.

Pandas share their home, even in reserves, with people locked in their own struggle to survive. The logging and farming that provides humans heat for their homes and income to survive has wiped out acres of panda-friendly terrain.

Recent history is steeped in irony. China's efforts to save the pandas have made the nature reserves an irresistible tourist attraction. Panda fans on ecotourism trips flock like groupies. This commerce and development degrades panda habitat.


MSU graduate student Vanessa Hull holds one of the GPS collars she's hoping to fit to a wild panda in China.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071210162837.htm

dasyurus

 

Giant Panda Genome To Be Sequenced

ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2008) — The International Giant Panda Genome Project has been launched. The goal of this project is to finish the sequencing and assembling of the draft sequence within six months, according to researchers with BGI-Shenzhen.

The giant panda is a much loved animal all over the world and is considered a symbol of China, as illustrated by its being one of the mascots for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing. The excitement surrounding the launch of this ambitious project, however, has been built around how this new genomic information will have extensive impact in numerous scientific areas -- from ecology to evolution to sequencing technology. Such data will aid in understanding the genetic and biological underpinnings of this unique species, especially with regard to its very specific niche in the environment and the molecular mechanisms of its evolution.

Of special interest is that these data will be extremely useful for protecting and monitoring this endangered species and will provide information on the impact of captive breeding. In addition, it will have considerable use in controlling diseases that could devastate these fragile populations. Because scientists will be utilizing the latest Now-Gen sequencing technology to carry out this research, this project will also have far-reaching implications for promoting advances in sequencing tools and techniques.

"The most noteworthy aspect of the project," said Oliver Ryder of the San Diego Zoo's Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) and a participant at the January workshop, "is that it is the first genome project to be undertaken specifically to gather information that will contribute to conservation efforts for an endangered species. The giant panda is a global conservation symbol and deserving of such an effort."

Ya-Ping Zhang, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Kunming Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, put equal emphasis on the evolutionary impact of these studies, saying, "the genome project will help scientists to understand the genetic basis for giant panda adaptation to its special diet and behavioral style, and to reveal the history of population isolation and migration."

Often referred to as a living fossil, given evidence that its ancestors existed in China over 8 million years ago, the giant panda has been the focal point of many research projects. So far, however, little research has been done on a genomic scale. The giant panda has a genome size of about 3 Gb, which is approximately the same size as the human genome, and is thought to have 20,000--30,000 genes. Taxonomy and genetic studies indicate that the giant panda is most closely related to bears, not to raccoons as was once considered, given their unique physical characteristics.

Dr. Lin He, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who works at both Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Fudan University, noted that the panda sequence obtained from this project will greatly benefit our understanding of the reduced fecundity in pandas when living under certain environmental conditions. This is a major issue for breeding programs that are carried out to strengthen the panda species as a whole. Dr. Lin He also raised an important point about how this sequence will further aid in learning about the interaction between genetics and the environment, and their impact on the physiology and pathology of the panda.

The panda to be sequenced for the Giant Panda Genome Project will be chosen from the Chengdu and Wolong breeding centers. In addition to producing a high quality genome sequence, the researchers will do a survey of the genetic variations in the panda population. The fine map of the panda's genome and the transcriptome studies will provide an unparalleled amount of information to aid in understanding both current and past status of the species, including historical population size, current levels of inbreeding, precise estimates of gene-flow, and past connectedness between the two different mountain-top giant panda populations.

In addition to researchers at BGI-Shenzhen, the current participants in this project consist of scientists from all around the globe: including researchers from the Kunming Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences; the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing); Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding; the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda (Wolong); the Beijing Institute of Genomics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI); BGI-Hangzhou; the University of Alberta (Canada); Cardiff University (UK); Fudan University (Shanghai); Sichuan University; Southeast University (Nanjing); Sun Yat-Sen University (Guangzhou); the University of California at Berkeley; the University of Copenhagen; the University of Hong Kong; the University of Washington (Seattle); the World Wide Fund for Nature, China; and the Zoological Society of San Diego.


Giant panda in China.
Adapted from materials provided by Beijing Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080306094633.htm

taipan

 

Pandas 'chirp' to get pregnant

By Jody Bourton
Earth News reporter
Page last updated at 12:46 GMT, Wednesday, 2 December 2009


Call of the wild

For female giant pandas who can only conceive on a few days once a year, being able to say "when" is vital.

Now a report reveals that female giant pandas use chirp calls to inform male pandas exactly how fertile they are.

The discovery suggests that panda vocal signals are more important than thought, and will aid conservation of the endangered animal, scientists say.

The researchers from the US and China publish their research in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

During their short breeding season, female giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) make high pitched calls that are thought to solicit male attention.

Given the brief window of opportunity for mating, selection should favour female giant pandas who are able to advertise their fertility and for males who accurately read the female calls.

However, the information content and detailed function of the 'chirp' and 'bleat' vocalisations has remained a mystery.

To investigate, the research team recorded vocalisations of captive giant pandas in China and the US.

Using these audio recordings and a knowledge of individuals' reproductive cycles, they reveal that panda calls signal the precise timing of female fertility.

Chirp calls were observed to differ depending on whether they were in a pre-fertile or fertile stage of the reproductive cycle.

Female giant pandas in a fertile stage would give longer calls that were characterised by a higher jitter and harshness, the researchers write.

The increased harshness of the chirps could indicate greater arousal levels, they say.

By playing recorded female vocalisations to male giant pandas, the researchers also found that males use calls to preferentially mate with females who signal they are at the optimum time for mating.

Female voice

This is the first experimental evidence to show that giant panda vocalisations can signal a female's exact fertile phase, says Dr Benjamin Charlton from Zoo Atlanta, Georgia in the US, who led the research team.

He completed the research along with researchers from San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research in the US and the China Research and Conservation Centre for the Giant Panda, Sichuan Province, China.

"Several nonhuman mammal studies have shown that female vocal behaviour can advertise fertility," Dr Charlton says.

And it is not just in the animal world this may occur.

"Recent work on humans has shown that that female vocalisations varies significantly around their fertile period," Dr Charlton says.

He explains that rising oestrogen levels around the time of ovulation in females has been suggested to change vocal structures and vocalisation.

With the knowledge that other species, perhaps including our own, use sounds to signal fertility, he not surprised to find that pandas do similar.

Fertility clinic

"I was excited to find acoustic cues to female fertility in giant pandas because it gives us a better understanding of this critically endangered species's reproductive behaviour," Dr Charlton says.

Research on communication and reproductive behaviour has been instrumental in recent improvements in conservation and breeding programmes for giant pandas.

The researchers hope this study will provide valuable information that will help the long term future of one of nature's most secretive and charismatic animals.

"By identifying key aspects of reproductive behaviour in giant pandas we can hope to provide the ideal environments and stimuli required for them to reproduce", Dr Charlton says.

"In doing so we can increase the success of captive breeding programmes."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8388000/8388484.stm

taipan

 

Giant Pandas should be carnivores according to their genes



February 2010. A Chinese-led team including international researchers with a scientist from Cardiff University, has shed new light on some of the giant panda's unusual biological traits, including its famously restricted diet.

The team has successfully sequenced the panda genome for the first time and now, the genetic insights gleaned from the work may aid conservation efforts for the endangered species.

Pandas lack the genes for bamboo digestion
Giant pandas are known for their bamboo diet but the researchers discovered that the animal actually lacks the genes necessary for compete digestion of this staple food source.

Pandas should be carnivores
Professor Mike Bruford, Cardiff School of Biosciences, worked on the study as part of an ongoing collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology, funded by the Royal Society. He said: "The panda is a true bear and is a carnivore, so it possesses the genes necessary for being a meat-eater and yet its diet is almost exclusively herbivorous. This may suggest that it relies on microbes in its gut to digest bamboo rather than on anything in its genetic make-up.

"Taste is also important when it comes to the development of dietary habits and the sequencers discovered mutations in the panda's T1R1 gene which may affect its ability to taste meat, one possible explanation for why a potential carnivore would rely on a strict bamboo diet."



No signs of in breeding
The study found no signs of low variation that is usually linked to inbreeding and results support the potential for successful survival despite the small population size of the species.

In spite of the panda's low reproduction rates, the study also identified nearly all the reproduction genes critical for mammalian gonad function and development.

Less than 3000 pandas alive
Professor Bruford said: "The panda is at high risk of extinction, with current estimates putting total population figures at less than 3,000. The study gives us a fuller understanding of the genetic basis of the panda's biology, and will contribute to disease control and conservation efforts."

"Sequencing mammalian genomes also undoubtedly helps our ability to annotate the human genome. A major limitation to this has always been the prohibitive costs involved in the process but the study used a short-read technology that can generate genome draft sequences in a very cost-effective manner.

"This will have far-reaching implications for promoting future genome sequencing of non-model organisms."

The study, ‘the sequence and de novoassembly of the giant panda genome', has been published by Natureand a full copy of the paper is available online.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/panda-diet.html

Get the full study here : The sequence and de novo assembly of the giant panda genome.

taipan

 

For Pandas, There Is a Mountain High Enough, There Is a Valley Low Enough

ScienceDaily (July 21, 2010) — Genetic analysis of giant pandas has shown that features of their landscape have a profound effect on the movement of genes within their population.

Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genetics found that physical barriers, such as areas lacking bamboo plants and other forest foliage, can separate giant pandas into isolated genetic groups.

Fuwen Wei, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, worked with a team of researchers to study giant pandas in the Xiaoxiangling and Daxiangling mountains. He said, "These results suggest that gene flow will be enhanced if the connectivity between the currently fragmented bamboo forests is increased. This may be of importance to conservation efforts as gene flow is one of the most important factors for maintaining genetic diversity within a species and counteracting the negative effects of habitat fragmentation."

The giant panda is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. This is the first study to demonstrate that there is a relationship between landscape features and gene flow within their population. Wei and his colleagues recovered 192 fecal samples, which were found to come from 53 unique genotypes. These 'genetic signatures' demonstrated signs of fragmentation within the panda population.

The researchers said, "It is vital to reconnect the fragmented habitats and increase the connectivity of bamboo resources within a habitat to restore population viability of the giant panda in these regions."



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Journal Reference:

Lifeng Zhu, Xiangjiang Zhan, Tao Meng, Shanning Zhang and Fuwen Wei. Landscape features influence gene flow as measured by cost-distance and genetic analyses: a case study for giant pandas in the Daxiangling and Xiaoxiangling mountains. BMC Genetics, 2010; (in press)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100722205624.htm

taipan

 

Male and female giant pandas prefer different habitats

By Matt Walker
Editor, BBC Nature


Female pandas are pickier than males

Male and female giant pandas prefer to use different habitats, say scientists.

Female pandas frequent high altitude conifer forests and mixed forests on steeper slopes, whereas males roam more widely, researchers found.

Females prefer these areas as they provide den sites for birthing and dense bamboo cover in which baby pandas can hide.

The discovery could inform strategies for conserving wild pandas and releasing them back into the wild.

Details are published in the Journal of Zoology.

Dunwu Qi and Fuwen Wei of the Institute for Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and colleagues studied the movements of giant pandas within the Liangshan Mountains of south central China.

They conducted transect surveys recording the presence of pandas by sight or by their droppings.

By studying the DNA in fecal samples, the researchers could determine the sex of the pandas encountered.


Females in the wild conceal their young

Giant pandas are solitary animals confined to highly fragmented montane forests in remote China.

Scientists well understand the basic type of habitat pandas need to survive, which tends to be forests above 1500m rich in bamboo, the pandas' main food.

The animals generally avoid higher peaks lacking bamboo and lower areas dominated by people.

But the specific requirements of males and females has been largely ignored until now.

The scientists' study confirmed that both sexes prefer to live in areas at higher altitudes and with high forest cover.

But female pandas are more picky than males.

They tend to limit their movements to within high altitude conifer forests and mixed forests, as well as historically clear-felled forest.

They also prefer habitat that slopes at between 10 and 20 degrees.

Such areas are better for raising young. Female pandas are selective about their den sites and often make dens in stands of large conifer trees more than 200 years old.

That also suggests that den sites may be limited in logged areas.

Males, in contrast, range more widely, covering areas that overlap the ranges of several females.

This segregation of the sexes should be accounted for in conservation and management efforts to safeguard the giant panda, say the researchers.

In particular, it should be recognised that female giant pandas have a narrower habitat preference than males.

That means they are likely to be disproportionately affected by habitat loss and people exploiting the forest.

It should also be taken into account when breeding programmes release giant pandas back into the wild.

Roads don't appear to have as great an impact on the movements of giant pandas as previously thought, say the researchers.

Females are often found near abandoned logging trails, though this could be an artefact of the number of roads of this type that crisscross the region.

Males tend to frequent habitat close to roads used by vehicles, perhaps due to their need to move greater distances to find prospective female mates.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14153997

taipan

 

Giant Pandas Thrive on Bamboo, Thanks to Belly Bacteria

Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience Staff WriterDate: 17 October 2011 Time: 03:00 PM


Pandas love their bamboo, but have trouble digesting it.

How giant pandas survive on a diet of hard-to-digest bamboo has long mystified researchers. It turns out, the roly-poly bears carry around their own digestive helpers in their bellies, a new study suggests.

Though the pandas, which can grow to 350 pounds (160 kilograms), are closely related to meat eaters, the vast majority of their diet is plants, in the form of bamboo.

Bamboo is a large, stalk-like grass. Its cells, like those of many plants, are held together by a molecule called cellulose. Most mammals don't have the ability to break down this cellulose, which is why humans can't chomp on tree limbs.

"If fully degraded, cellulose can contribute nearly half of the calories in bamboo," study researcher Fuwen Wei, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told LiveScience in an email. "However, because cellulose is very difficult to be digested, the real percent of the calories of cellulose in bamboo available for giant pandas is very low."

So, why do pandas eat this bamboo, when they shouldn't be able to make much caloric use of it? The study showed that cellulose-degrading bacteria live in the gut of the panda, Wei said. "It is highly possible that it is this kind of bacterium [that] plays an essential role in the degradation of cellulose of the giant panda."

Digesting cellulose

Some plant-eating animals, like cows and sheep, have evolved to have multiple stomachs and very specialized bacteria that help break down a plant’s cellulose. In comparison, humans and other mammals have a simple digestive system that can't release calories from cellulose.

To see how the pandas might get the calories out of cellulose, the researchers analyzed the bacteria they found in samples of wild and captive panda poop. They studied the genetic sequences of the bacterial ribososmes, the protein-making machinery in all cells, to determine what kinds of bacteria the poop contained. They found 85 species, 14 of which hadn't been described before.

They chose a few of the bacteria that had similar genetics to those found in other herbivores to study further, looking for genes in these bacteria that might work to break down cellulose. They found the majority of these genes in a type of bacteria called Clostridium. Species of Clostridium bacteria seem to break down cellulose and use some of the resulting energy, leaving the extras for the panda, Wei said.

These bacteria combine with other unique panda traits, including a strong jaw and fake thumbs, to enable them to forage for, eat and digest bamboo and the cellulose within it.

Bacterial activity

Tatsudo Senshu, of Kitasato University in Japan who wasn’t involved in the current study, notes that just because they found the bacteria and cellulose-digesting enzymes in the panda gut, that doesn't prove that they do actually break down cellulose into something usable by the panda.

"The presence of any microbes, or genes or enzymes does not necessarily mean that they are actually working (growing, metabolizing or contributing to the digestion) at the place where they are found," Senshu told LiveScience in an email.

Because the researchers didn't test if the bacteria actually broke down cellulose, and didn't study if the cellulose fed to the animal was actually digested, it's possible that the bacteria might not be playing the role the researchers suggest.

The study was published Monday (Oct. 17) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

http://www.livescience.com/16579-giant-pandas-bamboo-bacteria.html

ursusarctos

 

Startling image: Carnivorous panda eats antelope

BEIJING -- A camera at a Chinese nature reserve has captured images of a wild panda eating meat.

Pandas subsist almost entirely on bamboo; the conservation group WWF says only about 1 percent of a panda's diet is meat or a plant other than bamboo.

Staff at the Wanglong Nature Reserve in southwest Sichuan province set up the camera after noticing dead animals with chew marks. It was not known if the panda had killed the animals.

The Pingwu County forestry bureau says the panda appears to be healthy and strong.
From here.

Mongabay

 

One of the most iconic animals on the planet got good news this week. The world's giant panda population has risen by 268 individuals over the last decade, hitting a total of 1,864 animals, according to China's fourth decadal survey. This represents a total rise of 16.8 percent.

"These results are a testament to the conservation achievements of the Chinese government," said Xiaohai Liu, WWF-China's executive director of programs. "A lot of good work is being done around wild giant panda conservation, and the government has done well to integrate these efforts and partner with conservation organizations including WWF."

Found only in China, giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The only surviving member of its genus, the giant panda lives almost solely on bamboo. It's currently threatened by habitat loss and degradation.

In addition to a rising population the survey found that giant pandas are also expanding their range. The species now covers 2.57 million hectares, an expansion of 11.8 percent since 2003 with around a third of the animals inhabiting range outside of protected areas.

The bamboo forest inhabited by giant pandas—in China's Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces—are also home to takin (Budorcas taxicolor), listed as Vulnerable; golden snub nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana), Endangered; red panda (Ailurus fulgens—unrelated to giant pandas), Vulnerable; and crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), Endangered.