Japan — Giant panda twins born last month have been growing steadily at a theme park in Wakayama Prefecture thanks to the expertise of the park’s staff.
The two female cubs have been on public view at Adventure World in Shirahama, since December 19. And visitors have been flocking to look at one of the cubs sleeping peacefully at the bosom of their mother Rauhin, 14. The other cub was in an incubator.
The park is accepting submissions of names for the twin cubs from the general public. Submissions should made online or sent on a postcard to arrive by Jan. 31.
The birth was the fourth delivery for Rauhin, who is now the mother of seven, which include three twins.
To date,15 panda cubs have been born at the leisure park, the largest number outside China.
The theme park has sent eight of these pandas to breeders in China.
Seven of 10 giant pandas in Japan are at Adventure World; two of the remaining three are at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo and one is at Kobe Oji Zoo in Kobe.
Breeding giant pandas is extremely difficult as females ovulate only once a year and can get pregnant only during a period of two to three days. As the females are sensitive, they may fight with males if mated at the wrong time or if their chemistry is not good.
Males and females usually live in separate rooms. Placing a male and a female into the same pen at the optimum time is one of the keys to success.
As the mating season approaches at Adventure World, pairs comprising a male and a female are put in a breeding room in turns to give them a chance to get acquainted by sniffing each other.
Based on the frequency of rutting cries from the females and other criteria, the staff decides whether and when to put the pair together in the same pen.
“The entire staff closely monitors them and makes decisions based on our experience and accumulated data,” said Mitsuhiro Takahama, an executive at the theme park. “But Eimei is the one who has played the most distinguished role.”
Eimei, the twins’ father, was brought from China to Japan in 1994. He fathered seven cubs with Meimei, who died in 2008. He also fathered seven cubs with Rauhin. Born at Adventure World, Rauhin is the offspring of Meimei and another male.
He is 22 — equivalent to his mid-60s in human years — and is said to be one of the most prolific breeding male giant pandas in the world.
Raising cubs is also difficult – it is estimated that 60 percent to 70 percent of newborns die in a week.
Takahama attributes the high survival rate to the clean air and water around the theme park.
He also cited the fact that the park is a Japanese chapter of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China’s Sichuan Province, so Chinese researchers with a great deal of expertise provide support when needed.
Washington Post-Bloomberg