Posted: 投稿者： sxd (10) 投稿日時： 水, 2006-10-18 02:26 | 件名: Sichuan Travel Guide - Chronicles of the Shu Kingdom

New Sichuan Travel Guide - Chronicles of the Shu Kingdom  ( www.iHotPot.com )

Recently, the Giant Panda habitat (Sichuan) became the 5th World Natural Heritage site in the Province after Qingcheng Mountain & Dujiangyan, Mount Emei & the Leshan Giant Buddha, Jiu Zai Gou and Huanglong. Combine those sites with the historical sites of San Xing Dui, the Jinsha Ruins and The Wuhou Temple and it is easy to see the allure of travel to mysterious and scenic Sichuan. And now you can get all of the information you need in Sichuan's only English-language comic-themed Travel Guide with maps, reviews and directories of all the hotspots.

 The Endangered Giant Panda

The giant panda is a National Treasure of China and a symbol of the world's endangered wildlife. About 2,000 giant pandas survive in the wild, primarily on government-protected reserves in the mountains of central and western China. Chengdu is central to all remaining natural Panda habitat, as you can see from the Panda habitat map below:

Pandas have the most specialized diet of all bears; they rely almost completely on two species of bamboo that grow in the mixed forests of certain regions. Tens of thousands of years ago, giant pandas are believed to have ranged over much of China, south of the Yellow River, feeding on their staple diet of arrow and umbrella bamboo. In the last several centuries, environmental changes and expanding human populations have seriously reduced the area in which these two bamboo species -- and therefore pandas -- can live. Construction and deforestation has led to bamboo trees being cut down.

Another problem is hunting and poaching. Although the panda is labeled near extinction and is protected by stringent China law, that doesn't prevent hunters from coming to poach for panda. Hunters and poachers put cruel traps in the forests that can seriously injure and/or kill pandas.

To add to the problems, not many pandas are born in the wild since the female panda only comes into mating season for a couple of days per year. When the female does have babies, if she has more than one, she will abandon all but one. Panda cub survival rates are extremely low in the wild.

Panda research in Chengdu and Wolong Panda research facilities:

Pandas are solitary animals, shunning the company of other pandas except during the mating season. Studies over the past few decades have dramatically increased the knowledge of giant pandas.

To help the panda overcome its perilous situation, a process known as captive breeding was introduced. Captive breeding is the process by which the pandas are brought to centers, adapted to their habitat, and then allowed to breed with other pandas. This is done in the hope that the pandas would be safer in captivity, and that it would give them a better chance to raise the numbers of their species.
Chinese researchers have gone to great lengths to study the panda’s migratory routes to be able to better assess the need for protection. There have been many detailed studies performed by scientific researchers from China and abroad on topics such as the study of digestion and malnutrition of captive pandas and the project to establish the permanent panda gene and genome bank. In addition, researchers have been working on vaccines to prevent pandas from catching avoidable diseases.

What is particularly note-worthy is the great achievement in the theory and practice regarding artificial reproduction and manual breeding of the giant panda. Through domestic and international communication and cooperation, a number of key problems have been successfully tackled, such as the difficulty of mating during the giant panda's heat period, the difficulty of delivery in pregnancy, and low survival rate of panda cubs.

Researchers of the China Wolong Panda Protection Research Center published the findings on panda reproduction activities, which were acknowledged by experts at the highest levels regarding findings on improving the survival rate of baby pandas.

The study of artificial insemination technology for captive pandas made by the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding represents the highest level panda reproduction technology in the world. The panda feed study that passed an international verification check has attracted experts’ attention, as the effort has resulted in the mechanical production of bamboo-like feed cakes, which provide adequate nutrition for the captive animals.

Chengdu Weekly news report - edited by Matt Vegh