On the evening of 21 June, the panda centre's giant panda Ling Ling gave birth to one of the cubs at the root of the panda tree, the first to be produced this year by the panda centre's large panda population.
In early March, the natural mating of the female panda “Lingling” with the male panda “Yasing” was successful, and in late May, the “Lingling” showed signs of pregnancy such as reduced diet and reduced activity. At around 1500 hours on 21 June, a baby was born at 23.50 hours. At present, the panda “Lingling” and its cubs are in good condition, with the care of the rearing team.
“The 7-year-old panda `Lingling' was the first production, but the mother performed so well that she was able to carry out her calves more successfully and lick her body. In order to reduce the disruption of motherhood, staff members have not yet removed their calves for medical examination.” A presentation was made by the Deputy Director of the Pyramid Tree Base, Wu Ionlin.
Since the 1980s, Panda Centers have struggled hard and managed to successfully capture the “triple dilemmas” in which large pandas were bred, contributing to the growing maturity of panda breeding techniques, the steady growth in the size of large panda populations and the optimization of their genetic structure. To date, the number of cooped pandas has grown from 6 in 1983 to more than 380, achieving self-sustainment for the cooped panda population.
It was described that this year, in addition to the Pyramid Tree Base, the Ya'an Base was well prepared for the arrival of newborn panda cubs.