Millions are wondering: Is she, or isn't she?
Lips everywhere are whispering: Is it true that she is
pregnant?
All of her fans hope the answer is yes, but the experts are
still in doubt.
A report in mid-June from the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwest
China's Sichuan
Province said Hua Mei, a US-born panda
that will celebrate her fifth birthday in August, is expecting.
That report has not yet been proven to be fact, but it has
certain proven how popular Hua Mei really is.
"Our phones have become Hua Mei hotlines," said Wang Pengyan,
deputy director of the Wolong Nature Reserve, which Hua Mei now
calls home.
It has been five months since the giant panda returned to her
ancestral home from the United States but in the eyes of her
adoring fans, this first overseas-born panda returnee is still the
brightest star in the endangered animal firmament.
It is true that Hua Mei successfully mated with a panda named
Ling Ling on May 2, greatly increasing her chances of conception.
She later received four rounds of artificial insemination.
If successful, she should give birth in September, said
Wang.
"We are not sure if she is pregnant now, because so far, we have
no way of being certain that a panda is pregnant until two weeks
before she delivers," said Wang.
The female panda is normally sexually mature at four to five
years old. The breeding season for the giant pandas in captivity at
Wolong usually runs from March to May.
Pandas can only get pregnant once a year and give birth to one
to two cubs each time.
Giant pandas have a low fertility rate even in the wild, and it
is lower when the animals are in captivity.
For long periods, more than 60 percent of adult male giant
pandas in protected areas or zoos show no interest in breeding.
Only 10 percent of them are capable of mating naturally, and
just 30 percent of female giant pandas actually become pregnant and
give birth.
Determining pregnancy after breeding remains a problem for
scientists. Hormone or ultrasonic examinations, which are
frequently used on other animals, do not work well with pandas and
frequently give false results, said Huang Yan, deputy chief
engineer of the China Panda Protection and Research Center at
Wolong.
"The panda cub usually weighs about 100 grams (3.5 ounces) when
it is born, just like a little pink mouse. It is very difficult to
detect its movement in the body of a mother that weighs some 100
kilograms (220 pounds)," said Huang.
Another peculiarity of panda pregnancy is the phenomenon of
delayed implantation. A fertilized giant panda egg does not
immediately implant on the mother's uterine wall, but instead
floats around in her reproductive tract for varying lengths of
time. As a result, no one knows precisely the length of the giant
panda's actual gestation period. The time between mating and birth
can last anywhere from 83 to 181 days.
"Except the occasional listlessness, we haven't see any signs of
morning sickness in Hua Mei. So the answer to the riddle will only
be unveiled in September," said Huang.
Hua Mei, meaning "China-America," was born in 1999 to Bai Yun
and Shi Shi, a panda couple leased by China to California's San
Diego Zoo in 1996 as part of a 12-year research cooperation
program.
Under the contract, cubs of pandas abroad belong to China and
must be returned after they are three years old.
Hua Mei returned to Wolong this February, where she met her
father Shi Shi, who returned last year. Bai Yun, Hua Mei's mother,
remains in San Diego with another male, Gao Gao, and their
one-year-old son Mei Sheng.
Hua Mei has fully acclimatized to the diet zoologists have
tailored for her, said Zhang Guiquan, deputy director of the
reserve, who arranges and overlooks panda feeding and breeding.
A special team is set up to take care of panda
mothers-to-be.
"Our vets have increased routine checks on her recently, to
check her breath, droppings, appetite and mood," said Zhang. "The
results show Hua Mei is healthy and in good spirits. This lady has
gained two kilograms over the past five months and weighs about 96
kilograms now."
Pandas are among the world's most endangered animals. The State
Forestry Administration reported in June that the number of pandas
in the wild in China has increased more than 40 percent from 1,110
in the 1980s to 1,590 in the most recent survey.
However, a portion of the increase may be attributable to
improved survey methods, and the animal's existence remains
seriously threatened by a loss of habitat and a low rate of
reproduction.
(China Daily, China.org.cn July 12, 2004)