tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/giant-panda-4234/articlesgiant panda – The Conversation2020-02-27T14:28:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1325472020-02-27T14:28:40Z2020-02-27T14:28:40ZRed pandas may be two different species - this raises some tough questions for conservation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317421/original/file-20200226-24651-1or3uxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Volodymyr Goinyk / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Red pandas are not bears but they do mainly eat bamboo, like their much larger namesake the black and white giant panda. Officially classified as <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/714/110023718">endangered</a>, red pandas live across a stretch of the Himalayas and are in fact part of the same family as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790300908194">weasels and raccoons</a>. Now, advances in fancy gene sequencing have allowed scientists to analyse their full genetic make up for the first time – with big implications for conservation.</p>
<p>Previously, scientists recognised two different subspecies. Those pandas to the east of the Nujiang River (also known as the Salween River), with wider cheekbones and redder faces, were classified as the Chinese red panda. Those to the west were the Himalayan red panda. </p>
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<span class="caption">Red pandas are found in Bhutan, China and Tibet, India, Myanmar and Nepal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/714/110023718">IUCN</a></span>
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<p>But this division into has long been debated. The Nujiang River was perhaps a convenient and seemingly obvious geographical feature on which to place a boundary, but pandas on either side didn’t show a clear difference.</p>
<h2>Two species</h2>
<p>A new study published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/9/eaax5751">Science Advances</a> by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences places a firm marker in that debate. According to their work, the pandas do indeed fall into two clear genetic clusters, albeit with the likely boundary between the two actually being the Yalu Zangbu River, several hundred kilometres further west. The two clusters are distinct enough for the researchers to conclude they can be classified genetically as two distinct species. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317592/original/file-20200227-24694-syn4lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Threats to the red panda include hunting and deforestation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AB Photographie / shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Cleverly, the scientists also compared the DNA of female-inherited mitochondria (the “batteries” of cells) and the Y chromosome carried by males. This showed that, as in giant pandas, it is the females that disperse throughout their range, not the males. This is different from most mammals in which it is the males that travel around and spread genetic diversity among different populations. As in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03450.x">giant panda</a> this may be due to competition for dens between females and because of male territoriality.</p>
<h2>What this means for red pandas</h2>
<p>Does any of this matter? After all, such classifications may seem irrelevant and nerdy if we need molecular genetics just to distinguish between two otherwise matching fluffy pandas. But, yes, species (and subspecies) do matter.</p>
<p>First, it’s useful for raising awareness. You may have heard of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/6/120625-lonesome-george-tortoise-last-extinct-galapagos-science-animals/">Lonesome George</a> in the Galapagos, the last surviving Pinta Island giant tortoise. He became famous (and attracted serious conservation attention and popular support) precisely because scientists recognised that giant tortoises were different species or subspecies on different islands. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317420/original/file-20200226-24685-1hlv46r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lonesome George lived to at least 101 years old.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">discodollydiva / shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Molecular genetics knowledge is also crucial to the survival prospects of red pandas. Knowing past patterns of gene flow and that females were largely responsible means conservationists can plan zoo breeding or translocations of individuals in the wild, in line with population genetics.</p>
<p>The researchers identify three distinct populations within the Chinese red panda and suggest they are treated as separate conservation units. For one of the populations, this would need international cooperation between China, Myanmar and India. Identifying this in the genetics of a cute “<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-confirms-that-red-pandas-cuteness-increases-happiness-4000">flagship species</a>” like the red panda is a promising way to get politicians to work together across borders to protect entire ecosystems, with much wider conservation benefits.</p>
<p>There is limited information on red panda population status but overall <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/714/110023718">assessment</a> is of major declines. Distinguishing two species might allow different levels of vulnerability to be highlighted. Importantly, the Himalayan red panda has very low genetic diversity and carries a high level of potentially unhealthy mutations. In theory, this means scientists could carry out a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/threatened-species-science-genetic-rescue-180963040/">genetic rescue</a> by selectively breeding them with Chinese red pandas.</p>
<h2>Controversial questions</h2>
<p>But this is where different concepts of species as separate entities become controversial. The use of genetics to define a species as a cluster sharing uniform genomes – the “phenotypic species” concept – is increasingly common but still <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/494035c.pdf">contested</a>. One option would be to instead default back to the “biological species” concept, which says animals that can interbreed are the same species and distinctions based on appearance or other characteristics form separate subspecies. On that basis, Himalayan and Chinese red pandas – which are able to breed with each other – are the same species.</p>
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<p>This all raises lots of tricky questions: would we be right to genetically isolate the Himalayan red panda for purity, but risk poor genetic health and a greater risk of extinction? Or should we maximise its survival chances with selective aid of Chinese red panda DNA, even if that means conserving a less “pure” Himalayan “species”? Is maintaining a genetic divide between “species” more important than between “subspecies”?</p>
<p>Deciding the two are separate species may also have unforeseen consequences for conservation administration. Well-meaning frameworks for species protection may limit genetic rescue options for the Himalayan red panda or put paperwork barriers in place between wild populations. Given the blurred genetic boundaries and uncertain geographic separation, perhaps dividing animals into species based on genetics is indeed unhelpful.</p>
<p>We should finish with a word of warning. To most people, a “tiger” is a tiger, but scientists recognise <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/the-tiger-subspecies-revised-2017/">various subtly different subspecies</a>. That recognition has been central to realising the vulnerability of certain populations and targeting conservation efforts towards the critically endangered subspecies like Sumatran or Malayan tigers. Despite that, however, several subspecies have already gone extinct. Reclassifying a subspecies as a species may help conserve it, but it can’t reverse decades of hunting and habitat loss.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-species-the-most-important-concept-in-all-of-biology-is-a-complete-mystery-119200">What is a species? The most important concept in all of biology is a complete mystery</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Moolna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Should scientists keep both species genetically-separate and ‘pure’, even if that risks extinction?Adam Moolna, Lecturer in Environment and Sustainability, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1232662019-09-11T20:08:18Z2019-09-11T20:08:18ZThis extinct kangaroo had a branch-crunching bite to rival today’s giant pandas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291873/original/file-20190911-190021-1ko1r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C797%2C543&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">_Simosthenurus occidentalis_ had a body like a kangaroo, a face like a koala, and a bite like a panda.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">N. Tamura</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A giant kangaroo that roamed Australia during the Ice Age had a far mightier bite than its modern-day cousins, according to new <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221287">research</a> which suggests this species could eat a tough, woody diet similar to that of a giant panda.</p>
<p>The extinct short-faced kangaroos, known as <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9z42c7t1">sthenurines</a>, were very different to kangaroos of today. They had thick-set bodies, long muscular arms, often only a single large toe on each foot, and box-shaped heads rather like a koala’s. </p>
<p>Some of these species had massive skulls, with enormous cheek bones and wide foreheads. All this bone would have taken a lot of energy to produce and maintain, and it likely wouldn’t have evolved unless it was needed to accommodate very strong biting forces. This in turn suggests these kangaroos probably included very hard food as part of their diet, just as bamboo-chomping pandas do today.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-kangaroos-were-more-likely-to-walk-than-hop-32837">Giant kangaroos were more likely to walk than hop</a>
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<p>To find out just how well these kangaroos could bite, I analysed a skull from one particular sthenurine kangaroo species, <em>Simosthenurus occidentalis</em>, for which we have good-quality fossils.</p>
<p><em>S. occidentalis</em> was huge, weighing around 120kg, and went extinct an estimated 42,000 years ago.</p>
<p>I used computed-tomography (CT) scans of its skull to create a three-dimensional computer model. This then allowed me to simulate various bites and estimate the strength and distribution of forces across its skull during such actions.</p>
<h2>Mean machine</h2>
<p>According to my measurements, this kangaroo had a very mechanically efficient bite. This means more muscle force could be translated into bite force, allowing it to achieve harder bites with less effort. </p>
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<span class="caption">Short-faced kangaroos could put a lot of force through their teeth without stressing their skull.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D. Rex Mitchell/PLOS</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>For crushing hard foods, this was largely achieved with the help of broad rows of large molars that extended far back along the jaw. But I also found there was a risk of jaw dislocation when biting at the rear teeth, because they are very close to the jaw joints.</p>
<p>However, I found evidence of an enlarged muscle positioned inside the kangaroo’s immense cheek bones. My simulations demonstrated this would reduce the risk of jaw dislocation, thus allowing this kangaroo to bite very hard with greater confidence. </p>
<p>It’s perhaps no coincidence this muscle is also enlarged in the giant panda, which feeds on tough bamboo and therefore also needs a powerful bite.</p>
<p>I also found the skull of <em>S. occidentalis</em> was very resistant to twisting when biting hard on one side of the mouth. This suggests this kangaroo may have crushed very thick vegetation by putting it directly into its premolars, rather than biting at the front. Watch a giant panda eating bamboo and you’ll see it does exactly the same thing.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Side dish: giant pandas bite with their back teeth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Modern kangaroos have grazing diets based mainly on grasses. Other marsupial herbivores, such as tree-kangaroos and koalas, have browsing-based diets featuring small twigs and leaves from trees and shrubs. But no browsing marsupials today have the jaw power to eat whole branches.</p>
<p>My findings suggest short-faced kangaroos were therefore able to feed on parts of trees and shrubs that other herbivores of the time couldn’t eat. This would have given these powerful kangaroos a competitive edge during drought or other times of stress.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-marsupials-once-migrated-across-an-australian-ice-age-landscape-84762">Giant marsupials once migrated across an Australian Ice Age landscape</a>
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<p>Given <em>S. occidentalis</em> was living in Australia until relatively recently in evolutionary terms, both climate-induced and human-induced factors potentially played roles in the eventual extinction of this species. But one thing is for sure: regardless of how they died off in the end, they were crushing it while they lived.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rex Mitchell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new analysis of an extinct giant kangaroo skull suggests it was adapted to eat tough, woody material - a feeding style not found in any modern marsupials.Rex Mitchell, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1129562019-03-18T06:22:03Z2019-03-18T06:22:03ZPandanomics is a grey area, but to us the value of giant pandas is black and white<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264050/original/file-20190315-28499-ml51nq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C38%2C1484%2C1001&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Funi and Wang Wang in December, 2011. The gian pandas' stay at Adelaide Zoo depends on federal funding to pay China about A$1 million a year.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Mattner/Adelaide Zoo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wang Wang and Funi came to Australia from China a decade ago. Their relationship is best described as complicated. Despite considerable medical assistance, they have never managed to produce offspring. It has put a big question mark over whether they will be permitted to remain in Australia. </p>
<p>The fate of the two giant pandas may now depend on the outcome of the federal election. Keeping the couple at Adelaide Zoo includes paying about A$1 million a year to the Chinese government. The federal Labor Party has promised it will pay that bill for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-17/giant-pandas-to-stay-at-adelaide-zoo-under-labor-plan/10819644">another five years</a>. The Coalition’s position remains unclear.</p>
<p>It’s just another chapter in the story of an iconic species where politics, economics and international diplomacy often eclipse conservation considerations.</p>
<h2>Captive breeding program</h2>
<p>China currently has pandas on loan (or hire) to <a href="http://www.giantpandaglobal.com/">26 zoos in 18 countries</a>. The most recent zoo to join the select list was Ähtäri, Finland, which welcomed two pandas <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/world/china-watch/culture/giant-pandas-in-finland/">on a 15-year loan</a> in 2018. Denmark’s <a href="http://cphpost.dk/news/denmark/royal-welcome-for-panda-visitors.html">Copenhagen Zoo</a> is eagerly awaiting two pandas due to arrive in April. </p>
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<p>Officially it’s all part of a captive breeding program to help save the species from extinction. Though their conservation status is no longer “endangered” (improving to “vulnerable” in 2016), there are still just <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/712/121745669#conservation-actions">500 to 1,000 adult pandas</a> left in the wild, in six isolated mountain ranges in <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/712/121745669">south-central China</a>. </p>
<p>The overseas placements augment China’s own <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/712/121745669#conservation-actions">67 reserves</a> dedicated to panda conservation. Any cubs born overseas are the property of China and typically return to China to continue the captive breeding program.</p>
<p>But the number of zoo births has been quite low. As the Smithsonian Institution’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-pandas/2015/08/28/d4a96b1c-4bfe-11e5-bfb9-9736d04fc8e4_story.html?utm_term=.6881a91ec659">“panda guy” Bill McShea</a> has pointed out, pandas in the wild have fewer problems mating or breeding: “In the wild, aggregations of male pandas form along ridge tops in the spring, and a stream of visiting females in heat keeps the mating activity intense.”</p>
<p>Zoos can’t mimic these conditions. Since giant pandas are solitary animals, they are housed separately except for the few days of the year when the female is ready to mate. Because there is no mate choice in captivity, natural mating is rare. Most captive births are the result of IVF treatments.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JnXDXjcfllQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In 2015 panda fans got to watch Mei Xiang at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo give birth via panda cam. Mei Xiang was aged 17 years at the time. She had been artificially inseminated with sperm from two male pandas, and gave birth to two cubs.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trade considerations</h2>
<p>This is not to say overseas zoo placements have no conservation value. But other strategic aims, such as improving China’s public image and consolidating trade relationships, loom large. </p>
<p>For example, the new panda enclosure at Berlin’s Tierpark zoo was opened just ahead of the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg. The opening was attended by German chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese president Xi Jingping. The event was intrepreted as a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8a04a532-be92-11e7-9836-b25f8adaa111">signal</a> of China’s endorsement of Germany as a competitor to the United States for leadership of the western world.</p>
<p>China’s 2012 announcement that it would send four pandas to Canada’s Toronto and Calgary zoos was linked to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/harper-s-china-visit-ends-with-panda-pact-1.1144815">successful trade talks</a>, particularly over a <a href="https://international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/china-chine/fipa-apie/index.aspx?lang=eng">Foreign Investment Protection Agreement</a> after almost 20 years of negotiation. </p>
<p>Edinburgh Zoo’s receipt of two pandas in 2011 was linked to trade deals <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24161385">worth billions of dollars</a>.</p>
<p>As for the panda loan to Adelaide Zoo, it was announced by Chinese president Hu Jintao at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit <a href="https://www.scmp.com/article/607012/hu-howard-bond-panda-diplomacy">in Sydney in 2007</a>. On the same day Australian prime minister John Howard and President Hu also announced plans for a yearly “security dialogue”.</p>
<h2>Panda diplomacy</h2>
<p>Panda diplomacy is believed to date back to the <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-02/21/c_137840034.htm">7th century</a>, when the Empress Wu Zeitan sent a pair as a gift to Japan. In the 20th century Mao Zedong embraced the strategy, gifting pandas to fellow-travelling communist nations. When Richard Nixon went to China in 1972, Deng Xiaoping presented him with two pandas. </p>
<p>Since then the recipients have been well and truly weighted towards wealthy capitalist nations. There are two reasons for this. </p>
<p>First, China uses the pandas to improve its image and deepen relationships with nations able to supply it with valuable resources and technology. This has been aptly described as an exercise in “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255981642_Diplomats_and_Refugees_Panda_Diplomacy_Soft_Cuddly_Power_and_the_New_Trajectory_in_Panda_Conservation">soft cuddly power</a>”. </p>
<p>Second, since the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, China has used panda loans to pay for local conservation efforts, mend damaged panda conservation facilities and conduct giant panda research.</p>
<h2>Financial strings attached</h2>
<p>For recipient zoos keeping pandas is an expensive business.</p>
<p>Consider Adelaide Zoo’s costs even with the federal government covering the pandas’ A$1 million annual rental fee. From the outset, the zoo went heavily into debt to build a specialist panda enclosure (at a cost of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/06/21/3249843.htm">about A$8 million</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264298/original/file-20190318-28483-10v7pbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wang Wang in his enclosure at Adelaide Zoo in 2009. He and companion Funi have largely lived separate lives over the past decade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bryan Charlton/Zoos South Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Looking after each panda also costs many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Pandas are the most expensive animal to keep in a zoo, costing about <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2006/03/united-states-panda-zoo-animals/">five times as much as an elephant</a>. </p>
<p>Food alone is a logistical headache. Giant pandas are not biologically herbivores but for some reason they developed a taste for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00301-y">bamboo</a> about 6,000 years ago and stopped eating a varied diet, including meat. Bamboo, however, is low in nutrients and difficult to digest, which means pandas have to eat a lot and then rest. Each day an adult panda can munch through about <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/712/121745669#habitat-ecology">12 kilograms</a> of fresh bamboo – and because they’re fussy eaters, they need to be given more than double that amount. </p>
<p>All of this means a panda must be treated like a business proposition. Will there be a return on investment? Will their cost be justified by the extra visitors they draw to the zoo?</p>
<p>Adelaide Zoo had high expectations that were quickly dashed. Like other zoos, there was a large initial spike in zoo visits, but by 2010 visitor numbers had returned to pre-panda levels. It was clear Funi and Wang Wang would not add A$600 million to the South Australian economy over a decade as predicted. In their honeymoon year, research suggests, they brought <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305460297_How_Long_Does_an_Economic_Impact_Last_Tracking_the_Impact_of_a_New_Giant_Panda_Attraction_at_an_Australian_Zoo">in just A$28 million</a>. Adding a baby panda would improve their attraction value considerably.</p>
<h2>Beyond financial value</h2>
<p>It’s therefore easy to see why some some call pandas <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-23/adelaide-zoos-pandas-like-white-elephants-nz-parliament-hears/6798350">white elephants</a>. </p>
<p>But let’s not overlook the important contribution the panda diaspora has made to pandas moving off the “endangered” list. Part of this is due to the loan fees paid to China. The money has funded panda conservation research and projects at Bifengxia and Wolong, in China’s Sichuan province. </p>
<p>There is also value in Australian zoo keepers, veterinarians and scientists being part of a global knowledge network. </p>
<p>We still know so little about panda behaviour and the environmental effects that endanger them. We have made a small contribution with our own <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304429081_Impact_of_an_enclosure_rotation_on_the_activity_budgets_of_two_zoo-housed_giant_pandas_Ailuropoda_melanoleuca_An_observational_case_study">research</a> into strategies to reduce stress in captive giant pandas. If Funi and Wang Wang remain in Adelaide, the zoo has the potential to provide for further valuable insights. </p>
<p>As scientists who care about animals and animal welfare, we believe it is important to also remember Funi and Wang Wang have helped connect hundreds of thousands of children and adults alike to nature. </p>
<p>These two giant pandas have their own personalities and close bonds with people who care for them everyday. Nature is not just an economic commodity but vital for our survival. If you have not yet visited Funi and Wang Wang, take the opportunity while you can.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112956/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Ryan received a PhD scholarship from the Australian Government's Research Training Program. Jillian has collaborated with Zoos South Australia and Zoos Victoria on research projects and program evaluations. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carla Litchfield was affiliated with ZoosSA (Royal Zoological Society of South Australia) until 2013. She served as Vice President of the Board and then as President in 2013, all voluntary and unpaid roles. She has supervised numerous Honours and PhD student projects at ZoosSA focused on enrichment, behavioural observation and enhancing animal welfare, and is a Life Member of ZoosSA. The information used in the article is all in the public domain.</span></em></p>When it comes to giant pandas, politics, economics and international diplomacy often eclipse conservation considerations.Jillian Ryan, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, CSIROCarla Litchfield, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/683952016-11-10T08:19:22Z2016-11-10T08:19:22ZCaptive panda cubs are drinking the wrong milk – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145246/original/image-20161109-19051-4qpii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'No more milkshake for me.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-249906574/stock-photo-panda-triplets-half-birthday-the-triplets-which-reached-6-month-old-on-feb-1-were-the-fourth-set-of-giant-panda-triplets-born-with-the-help-of-artificial-insemination-procedures-in-chi.html?src=cp80o4WH7mhLDuFmY_7vTw-1-95">Plavevsky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forty years after giant panda numbers <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/giant_panda/panda/how_many_are_left_in_the_wild_population/">reached</a> an all-time low, specialists around the world are still trying to develop a self-sustaining population in captivity that can be released into the wild to secure the animal’s future. </p>
<p>This has been <a href="http://www.cbsg.org/sites/cbsg.org/files/Traylor-Holzer_Ballou_2016.pdf">hampered</a> over the years by institutions failing to work together and follow the breeding recommendations of genetic scientists. In China in particular, the home of giant pandas, breeders have prioritised cub numbers over quality. The problem is that the competing ministries responsible for panda populations are paid for each cub they produce. </p>
<p>There have long <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521832953">been concerns</a> that breeding pandas in the wrong way produces cubs in captivity with health and behavioural problems. These problems exacerbate the difficulties of giant panda reproduction and make them less capable of coping in the wild. </p>
<p>We have <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep36141">just published</a> new research into panda milk that adds to the growing evidence of how human interference can be bad for these animals. It relates to the fact that in China it is standard practice in breeding centres to intensively supplement – or even entirely replace – the mother’s milk with an artificial substitute. In Chinese husbandry culture, the belief is that this is the best way of ensuring the cubs have the best chance of survival and grow as quickly as possible. </p>
<p>Practices vary in other countries, often depending on the nature of the panda loan agreement they have with the Chinese authorities. In many cases, they are required to have a Chinese zookeeper overseeing the pandas at all times, in which case they will follow Chinese practice. (One example of a zoo that doesn’t interfere with panda milk is <a href="https://www.zoovienna.at/en/zoo-and-visitors/visitor-information/">Vienna</a>). </p>
<h2>The colostrum conundrum</h2>
<p>Milk is particularly important for giant pandas because of the extreme immaturity of a newborn panda cub. All bears are born more developmentally immature than any other mammal apart from marsupials, and of the seven bear species, giant pandas are born most immature of all. </p>
<p>Newborn pandas weigh only 100-150g, about 1/1,000th the weight of their mothers. They have no functioning immune system, cannot see or hear, and cannot regulate their own body temperature. They are naked and completely dependent on the mother for every aspect of survival and development. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145247/original/image-20161109-19097-1ktv5ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panda junior.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-211947010/stock-photo-guangzhou-china-august-12-2014a-newborn-giant-panda-cub-one-of-the-triplets-which-were-born-to-giant-panda-juxiao-not-pictured-is-seen-inside-an-incubator-at-the-chimelong-safari.html?src=cp80o4WH7mhLDuFmY_7vTw-1-92">Plavevsky</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As readers with children will be well aware, mothers produce a special milk in the first few days after giving birth which is unique in its composition of specific nutrients. Known as colostrum, this first milk contains specific types and concentrations of substances essential for the newborn’s immune system, as well as proteins, lipids and other molecules that are vital for development. </p>
<p><a href="http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/content/90/2/332">In species</a> that are born fairly mature, such as calves and foals, the colostrum phase of milk lasts only a few hours. In our <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep36141">new paper</a>, which is the third in a <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/10/150395">series</a> of <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0143417">papers</a> about giant panda milks, we hypothesised that the transition from colostrum to mature milk would be unusually long in bears in order to meet the requirements of a developmentally immature newborn. Sure enough, when we analysed milk samples from six giant pandas, the colostrum phase turned out to last 30 to 40 days. </p>
<p>We also found that the composition of the milk varied greatly over the period, with some ingredients starting off in large proportions and falling away while others started low and rose dramatically. Some of the most noticeable changes related to small molecules that are building blocks for the eye, brain and nervous system. </p>
<p>Other fluctuating ingredients are integral to cubs’ biosynthetic pathways, cell membranes, antibacterial defences and establishing microorganisms in their digestive system. These microorganisms <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26143242">may be</a> particularly important to giant pandas as they progress from a milk-based to a predominately vegetarian diet within the first year of life: giant pandas may depend on a unique gut microbiome to be able to digest the large quantities of bamboo that form the foundation of their diet.</p>
<p>We also analysed the artificial milk formulae that breeders commonly use to supplement giant panda cubs. We found that key compounds were at extremely inappropriate levels – some too low, others too high. They also stayed at these levels, not changing like the mother’s colostrum to meet the needs of the developing infant. </p>
<p>For example, we discovered that the artificial milk had a gross excess of lactose, which is abundant in cow and other milks but disappears from panda colostrum after the first day or two. This lactose <a href="http://samples.sainsburysebooks.co.uk/9780470384787_sample_382126.pdf">causes</a> panda cubs severe stomach problems and disrupts the fragile balance of microorganisms in their gut, which can hamper their digestive processes for the rest of their lives. </p>
<p>At the same time, we found major deficiencies in other key compounds in the artificial milk that may be compromising the development of the cubs’ brains, eyes and other organs – a grave risk considering the ultimate intention is to release captive-bred individuals into the wild. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145248/original/image-20161109-19074-beqfh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Who you calling idle?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-137297054/stock-photo-panda-bear.html?src=cp80o4WH7mhLDuFmY_7vTw-1-18">Lee Yiu Tung</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The wider problem</h2>
<p>In the wild, panda mothers invest extraordinary time and skill rearing their infants to be sufficiently adaptive and resilient to survive. We still have a great deal to understand about this process, and our research reveals what is probably one of a number of ways in which panda cubs suffer when breeders prevent panda mothers from raising their cubs undisturbed. </p>
<p>It is probably equally unhelpful, for example, that panda families are interfered with hourly and live in barren enclosures where mothers have no privacy or control over their environment. At three to five months of age, cubs bred in captivity are permanently removed from their mothers to maximise the chances of the mothers reproducing every year. This is very different from the wild, <a href="https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Last-Panda-Schaller-George-B-University/16569203262/bd">where</a> cubs stay with their mothers for at least two and a half years and females reproduce only every four to five years. </p>
<p>If we wish to build a captive panda population of bear cubs that are physically, cognitively and behaviourally healthy, breeders need to leave mothers to their work. Our research emphasises the evolutionary wisdom that no one else is better suited to that job.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malcolm Kennedy has received funding over the years from The Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council (UK), The Royal Society, The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research (UK). The project in this paper was funded only by the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kati Loeffler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research shows why the milk of panda mothers is far better than formula.Malcolm Kennedy, Professor of Natural History, University of GlasgowKati Loeffler, Adjunct Professor of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/605902016-06-24T10:11:33Z2016-06-24T10:11:33ZDoes eating bamboo make it harder for pandas to reproduce?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127418/original/image-20160620-8875-1kxxgy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will this make my tummy hurt?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGiant_Pandas_having_a_snack.jpg">Chi King</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most people get upset stomachs from time to time. Usually, a few trips to the bathroom or antibiotics solve the problem. For pandas, it’s an entirely different story. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00661">Our research into panda digestion</a> shows that pandas get upset stomachs so frequently it may help explain why it’s so hard for them to reproduce. Our work may, as a result, highlight a new way to boost pandas’ breeding success in captivity.</p>
<p>Generally, in both pandas and humans, upset stomachs result from some sort of imbalance in the stomach or intestines. Often this is caused by foodborne bacteria, whose invasion prompts an inflammatory response that rapidly expels whatever is inside the gut. The human digestive system usually resets fairly quickly, and we go back to eating the wide variety of meats, plants and carbohydrates that make up our diet. This is why food poisoning doesn’t have long-term effects on an otherwise healthy individual.</p>
<p>This, however, is not the case for the giant panda. Giant pandas are biologically bears, members of the <a href="http://dobzhanskycenter.bio.spbu.ru/pdf/sjop/MS298_Waits_MolPhylogenetEvol.pdf"><em>Ursidae</em> family,</a> along with grizzly bears, black bears and even polar bears. However, unlike other bears, pandas are not carnivorous or omnivorous. Rather, they have evolved a unique lifestyle in which they almost <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022602">exclusively eat bamboo</a>.</p>
<p>Their switch to a plant-based diet happened <a href="http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v45/n1/full/ng.2494.html#ref16">more than two million years ago</a>. Pandas’ bodies have adapted to their herbivorous diet by evolving stronger <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-010-0748-x">jaw structures</a> to crush and chew bamboo and a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1286-3">thumb-like paw structure</a> for grasping and ripping apart bamboo. But the panda digestive system has not yet adapted. Their resulting stomach problems have possible repercussions for their reproductive success and their status as <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/712/0">an endangered species</a>.</p>
<h2>Unlikely herbivores</h2>
<p>Even millions of years after giving up meat, pandas’ digestive tracts remain similar to carnivorous bears, passing food through the gut in <a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Gut+motility+and+gastrointestinal+mixing+in+the+giant+panda...-a0190806717">less than 10 hours</a>. But other herbivores, like cattle, hold food in their stomachs for <a href="http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/nutrition/nutrition-and-feeding/rumen-function/from-feed-to-milk-understanding-rumen-function">24 hours</a>, or even longer, to allow time for optimal digestion of plant components. The panda’s speedy digestive process doesn’t allow enough time to extract much energy from its food. This likely explains why pandas spend so much of their time eating – as much as <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giantpandas/pandafacts/">16 hours a day</a>.</p>
<p>The panda’s need for such large quantities of bamboo also contributes to its endangered plight. There are about 1,800 pandas in the wild, and although recent conservation efforts have resulted in moderate increases in the last 10 years, <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?13588/History-of-the-Giant-Panda">numbers remain at roughly 70 percent</a> of the earliest estimates from the 1970s. Much of their decline is thought to be caused by severe <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/giant_panda/panda/kung_fu_panda_enemies_defences/">habitat loss</a>. Today’s roughly 11,000 square miles (28,000 square kilometers) is just half or even one-third of their <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/PandaHabitat/">former range</a>.</p>
<p>Pandas’ shift from omnivory to herbivory makes them particularly sensitive to this habitat loss. Switching food sources way back when was likely a good move at the time: bamboo was abundant and required no hunting. Since then, however, access to high-quality bamboo throughout the year has <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/07/how-pandas-survive-their-bamboo-only-diet">drastically declined</a>. Poor-quality bamboo has many effects, one of which may be upsetting pandas’ stomachs. This is a particular problem for pandas in captivity, where only one species of bamboo may be available at a time and biscuits, vegetables and fruits must be used to supplement the <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giantpandas/pandafacts/">panda diet</a>.</p>
<h2>Irritated digestive systems</h2>
<p>Pandas in captivity <a href="http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/885009199.html?FMT=ABS&pubnum=1497295">chronically suffer from upset stomachs</a>. As a result, they excrete mucus-like stools (termed “mucoids”) and lose their appetites. In many cases, these symptoms result in more severe digestive system diseases like colitis, an <a href="https://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=23&ved=0ahUKEwjbzM7FqLnNAhXBnRoKHQ4ICEs4FBAWCBIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fumm.edu%2Fhealth%2Fmedical%2Faltmed%2Fcondition%2Fulcerative-colitis&usg=AFQjCNEGh2MiPeCvhtifLsGveLh39fcRmQ&sig2=br2ZK1wH0V64Hf-MbRRHyQ">inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)</a> with chronic inflammation of the digestive tract.</p>
<p>Mucoids are gelatinous and membranous, reminiscent of the protective mucus layer produced in mammals’ digestive tracts. Normally, this layer <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13228-012-0021-1">protects the animal</a> from invading pathogens and from physical damage caused by hard or sharp food particles. This led us to hypothesize that panda mucoids might be the product of a panda’s gastrointestinal (GI) tract expelling its own mucus layer. With our colleagues <a href="http://institute.sandiegozoo.org/candace-williams-phd">Candace Williams</a> and <a href="http://www.biochemistry.msstate.edu/associate.asp?id=51">Ashli Brown</a> at Mississippi State University, we studied the breeding pair of pandas (LeLe and YaYa) at the Memphis Zoo. Both suffer from chronic bouts of mucoids. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126649/original/image-20160615-22377-1wddpyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126649/original/image-20160615-22377-1wddpyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126649/original/image-20160615-22377-1wddpyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126649/original/image-20160615-22377-1wddpyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126649/original/image-20160615-22377-1wddpyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126649/original/image-20160615-22377-1wddpyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126649/original/image-20160615-22377-1wddpyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Le Le and Ya Ya are two giant pandas at the Memphis Zoo that suffer from chronic mucoids.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr. Candace Williams</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because we could not invasively sample the pandas’ GI tracts, we took a completely different approach. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2012.156">Recent work</a> has revealed the importance of microbial communities (the “microbiome”) to many biological processes in the GI tract, such as conversion of food into nutrients and protection from pathogens. We reasoned that if mucoids contain part of the GI tract mucosal layer, they would have a very different microbial community than healthy panda stools. </p>
<p>We collected stool samples from the Memphis Zoo pandas before, during, and after mucoid episodes. Our <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00661">genetic analysis of the microbes</a> in the various stool samples found that, as expected, the mucoids had a radically different microbial community than healthy panda stool. While microbes in pandas’ digestive mucus have not been analyzed, we found that panda mucoids had many microorganisms in common with those found in the mucus layer of the GI tracts of other mammals.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126651/original/image-20160615-22383-1q6tbnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126651/original/image-20160615-22383-1q6tbnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=211&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126651/original/image-20160615-22383-1q6tbnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=211&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126651/original/image-20160615-22383-1q6tbnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=211&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126651/original/image-20160615-22383-1q6tbnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126651/original/image-20160615-22383-1q6tbnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126651/original/image-20160615-22383-1q6tbnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mucoids (left) are different from regular stools (right) and characterized as mucus-like excretions. Mucoids are typically accompanied by a loss of appetite and can lead to severe disorders like colitis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr. Candace Williams</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Affecting reproduction</h2>
<p>These results led us to hypothesize that pandas periodically shed their GI tract lining because their gut has not fully adapted to digesting only plants. We think that the hard, fibrous nature of bamboo may physically abrade the GI tract, possibly leading to an inflammatory response resulting in this expulsion of the mucus layer. This, and the cessation of eating, then allows the panda time to reestablish its mucus layer and a healthy microbiome. </p>
<p>Where this starts to affect pandas as a species, rather than just as individuals, is in the timing of these mucoid discharges. Most often, it happens just after the breeding season. Physical discomfort, loss of appetite, and upset digestive systems may impair a female panda’s ability to carry a fetus to term. This may help explain why pandas in captivity have a particularly hard time reproducing, and suggests that efforts to mitigate mucoidal episodes might help this process. </p>
<p>Based on these findings, we suggest that captive pandas be continually provided with the freshest variety of bamboo. This is challenging, as several zoos with pandas are in climates where bamboo doesn’t grow well. Therefore, future research should investigate other dietary supplements to determine the best diet for preventing mucoids in captive pandas.</p>
<p>So, the next time you visit a zoo that has pandas (including the <a href="http://www.zooatlanta.org/meet_the_pandas">Atlanta Zoo</a>, <a href="http://www.memphiszoo.org/animals#item=31182">Memphis Zoo</a>, <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/">Smithsonian National Zoo</a>, <a href="http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/animals/giant-panda">San Diego Zoo</a> and <a href="http://www.torontozoo.com/pandas/">Toronto Zoo</a>) and they are looking a little disgruntled, remember that it might be because of an upset stomach. While this would be no big deal for you and your stomach, it may have dramatic consequences for the enigmatic but endangered giant panda.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60590/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garret Suen receives funding from the DOE and the USDA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberly Dill-McFarland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pandas are bears – but two million years ago they stopped eating meat. Their digestive systems have not yet adapted, though. Do upset stomachs make panda pregnancy more difficult?Garret Suen, Assistant Professor of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-MadisonKimberly Dill-McFarland, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/443252015-07-20T05:21:35Z2015-07-20T05:21:35ZCaptive giant pandas may need to form a fight club to save the species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87951/original/image-20150709-10904-tkthb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seabamirum/7753246180/">Seabamirium</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every panda that wouldn’t screw to save its species
– “Narrator”, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes?item=qt0479151">Fight Club</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Though Edward Norton’s unnamed movie character was no conservation biologist he was actually pretty close to the solution. Giant pandas don’t choose not to “screw” out of spite, of course, or because they have no natural urge to reproduce – in the wild they have <a href="http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150310-the-truth-about-giant-pandas">perfectly good sex drives</a>.</p>
<p>However, just as Tyler Durden and co felt they needed to turn to violence in order to find meaning in their lives, so it is becoming apparent that male pandas also need to fight – in order to mate. To save their species, captive pandas may need a fight club of their own.</p>
<p>The breeding problems are particularly apparent in Edinburgh, where the zoo has announced once again that its female giant panda Tian Tian has <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11697980/Edinburgh-Zoo-panda-Tian-Tian-has-conceived.html">conceived through artificial insemination</a>, but is not yet pregnant. That is, a sperm has entered an egg, which has been placed inside her; but crucially this fertilised egg has not yet implanted. Unfortunately, these attempts at artificial reproduction often don’t work.</p>
<p>Some scientists say giant pandas are so hard to breed that they <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5841175/should-we-just-let-pandas-die-off-already">shouldn’t even exist</a> in nature. Females often don’t accept males, and even if a female is interested in a male this sexual interest is not reciprocated. </p>
<p>None of this makes sense. The meaning of life, as all biologists know, is passing your genes on to the future and to do this you need to mate. But we have arrived at our conclusions on panda reproduction based on our observations of zoo-housed giant pandas and not from data on wild individuals. I suspect herein lies the problem – zoos don’t offer the same sexual opportunities as life in the wild.</p>
<p>The panda situation reminds me of another species, which despite being held in captivity for thousands of years had only bred once before the 1950s: <a href="http://www.cheetahssp.org/PDFs/Cheetah_Zoo_History.pdf">the cheetah</a>. Now the captive cheetah population is growing rapidly. To understand how zoos have solved this problem with cheetahs and where the problem with giant pandas comes from we need to look back in time.</p>
<h2>Nuclear animal families?</h2>
<p>The first modern zoo, in London, was founded in the Victorian era, a time when animal collectors had no qualms about going around the world to gather new species by any means necessary. The animals were housed in a monogamous family unit, in accordance with Victorian standards of morality. Even today zoo visitors explain to their children which animal is the mummy or the daddy and any inconvenient other adults are explained away as aunties or uncles. This situation has been reinforced by zoos describing themselves <a href="http://www.paigntonzoo.org.uk/get-involved/unique-gifts-experience/inside-amphibian-ark">as modern arks</a>, creating the image of animals entering two-by-two.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1294&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1294&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87957/original/image-20150709-10899-1mwh18c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1294&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mughal emperor Akbar used cheetahs for hunting – and even successfully bred them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AkbarHunt.jpg">Akbar Nama c.1602</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But once scientists started to study animals in the wild it quickly became obvious that monogamy is not the norm. And even in species that are monogamous there is considerable mate choice or, to be more accurate, reproductive partners are chosen by females. Just like humans, most animals chose their reproductive partners according to their strength and good looks, or the resources they control, as these characteristics affect the perpetuation of their genes.</p>
<p>Captive female cheetahs finally started breeding once they were offered a range of suitors rather than being housed with just one male. This replicated their behaviour in the wild, where female cheetahs like to give several males the once over before choosing who to breed with. It may be that the first male that caught the female’s eye will be the one that she will eventually choose, but confirming he is the best available in the breeding pool seems to be crucial. Zoos who imitate this situation are successful at <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/breeding-cheetahs-20876365/?no-ist">breeding cheetahs</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/klO6oyK9Y5w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The first rule of panda club is you do not film it and put it on YouTube.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Giant pandas are no longer housed in pairs. Instead, males and females are typically kept in adjacent enclosures and the male is introduced to the female during the one to three days a year when she is fertile. But it is just one male. What if he is ugly? Or maybe the female panda wishes suitors would strut their stuff on a mating catwalk, like cheetahs do. </p>
<p>Perhaps males need to impress females with shows of strength, by beating up or chasing off other males. It could also be that males need some competition to put them in the mood – studies of wild pandas show their <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14930876">testosterone levels</a> are low except at mating time.</p>
<p>Female giant pandas advertise their readiness to breed by scent marking around the edges of their territory, leading to the simultaneous arrival of several males who will chase off or beat-up their competition until only the strongest remains. So, the victor gets the opportunity to propagate its genes. </p>
<p>If all of this is correct it suggests zoos wanting to move away from artificial reproduction might be better off instead focusing on panda fight clubs. Alternatively, it may be possible to dupe females into believing certain males are worthy suitors as has been done with <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00114-003-0465-9">pygmy lorises</a> by making them appear to be winners of fights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert John Young recently returned from a trip to China where he visited wild panda habitat, panda breeding centres and talked to Chinese and international experts on giant panda reproduction.</span></em></p>Pandas breed in the wild after fighting off competition from other males – something they’re denied in captivity.Robert John Young, Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/444352015-07-09T18:31:46Z2015-07-09T18:31:46ZWhy are pandas so chilled? The clue is in the bamboo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87776/original/image-20150708-31598-l2t3e7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nah I'm staying here, have already walked 20 metres today.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fuwen Wei</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has long been a mystery how giant pandas, which have a gut ideal for digesting meat, can survive <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/asfm-gpg051415.php">eating almost exclusively bamboo</a>. Now our research has found that they can cope with this low-quality diet because they have an <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aab2413">extremely slow metabolic rate</a>. This may also explain why they are so inactive and have comparatively small organs for their body size. </p>
<h2>Hoops and hurdles</h2>
<p>There are few animals on the planet as iconic as the giant panda. Its role as the logo for the <a href="http://www.wwf.org.uk/adoption/panda/?pc=APP004001&ds_medium=cpc&gclid=CJifkO2uy8YCFQrItAodjIIH6g&gclsrc=aw.ds">World Wide Fund for nature</a>, the perilous nature of its existence in the wild and the fact that it has been exported worldwide as a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chinese-panda-pledge-symbol-of-friendship-2180991.html">symbol of Chinese political friendship</a> for decades, continue to sustain its status. </p>
<p>Despite this phenomenal popularity, its political importance and threatened <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/giant-panda">conservation status</a> make it extremely difficult to do research on pandas. There are many, and justified, hurdles to jump to do scientific work on animals in general, but they are even higher when it comes to pandas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87777/original/image-20150708-31595-i8t2zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87777/original/image-20150708-31595-i8t2zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87777/original/image-20150708-31595-i8t2zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87777/original/image-20150708-31595-i8t2zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87777/original/image-20150708-31595-i8t2zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87777/original/image-20150708-31595-i8t2zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87777/original/image-20150708-31595-i8t2zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I’m just going to sit here and smell the bamboo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wei Wei)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For this reason, there are many fundamental measurements that have been made on other species but that are lacking for pandas. However, we are slowly starting to fill in these gaps.</p>
<h2>Gut of a lion …</h2>
<p>One bit of biology that many of us are familiar with is that the panda is a <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2015/01/29/pandas-ancestors-ditch-meat-bamboo/">carnivore that became a vegetarian</a>. The mammalian order <em>Carnivora</em> includes several families of animals including the canids (wolves, dogs and foxes), felids (cats), mustelids (weasels and so on), pinnipeds (seals, walruses and sea-lions) and ursids (bears). All these groups apart from the bears subsist by killing and eating other animals. </p>
<p>Because meat is easily digested these animals have short digestive tracts. Apart from the polar bear, many bears include various amounts of vegetable material into their diets. The panda has taken this to the extreme: eating almost exclusively bamboo. </p>
<p>Although pandas have many adaptations for eating bamboo (like an extra “thumb” to help hold the shoots) these do not include a long digestive tract. The panda also has <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/asfm-gpg051415.php">the guts of a lion</a>: ideal for digesting meat, but very inefficient for digesting bamboo. So they have to eat lots of it, perhaps as much as <a href="http://www.animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/giant-panda/">10-20kgs per day</a>. Scientists have long speculated that to survive on such a low-quality food <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Giant-Pandas-Wolong-George-Schaller/dp/0226736431">pandas must have a low rate of metabolism</a>. </p>
<p>However, until now nobody had managed to measure exactly how much energy they use. To do this, we used a technique called the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9771875">doubly-labelled water method</a>, which measures the rate at which animals eliminate stable isotopes from their bodies. We did this for five captive pandas at <a href="http://www.giantpandazoo.com/panda/china/beijing-zoo/">Beijing zoo</a> and three wild pandas living in the <a href="http://www.chinaexploration.com/NatureReserve/Foping-Nature-Reserve.html">Foping nature reserve</a>.</p>
<p>We found that the pandas’ metabolic rate is exceptionally low. Corrected for their body weight of about 92kg (203lbs), it is substantially lower than almost all other mammals. In fact, the rate is closer to what would be predicted for a 90kg reptile.</p>
<h2>… mobility of a sloth?</h2>
<p>How they achieve such low rates of energy use was the focus of the second part of our paper, published in the journal Science. Much of the energy that our bodies use is burned up in relatively few organs, including the brains, kidneys, heart and liver. Using historical autopsy data we found that pandas have small organs for their body size. </p>
<p>Their brains are only 82% of the expected size, their kidneys only 74.5% and their livers a remarkable 62.8% of the expected size for a 90kg mammal. Plus if you ever went to see a panda in a zoo you will know that they are not the most active of animals. Indeed using GPS loggers we found that in the wild pandas move on average at just 26.9 metres per hour. </p>
<p>A key physiological system involved in regulating our metabolism is the thyroid hormone system. We suspected that pandas might have something unusual going on with their <a href="http://www.hormone.org/hormones-and-health/what-do-hormones-do/what-does-the-thyroid-gland-do">thyroid hormones</a> – a hunch that turned out to be correct.</p>
<p>Pandas have very low levels of the main thyroid hormones T4 and T3. We were able to trace these low hormone levels to a unique mutation in the panda genome, which affects a critical gene involved in thyroid hormone synthesis. People who have low thyroid hormone levels <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Thyroid-under-active/Pages/Introduction.aspx">often complain that they feel cold</a>. This is potentially because their lowered metabolic rate is insufficient to keep them warm. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87778/original/image-20150708-31563-ll6zjq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87778/original/image-20150708-31563-ll6zjq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87778/original/image-20150708-31563-ll6zjq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87778/original/image-20150708-31563-ll6zjq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87778/original/image-20150708-31563-ll6zjq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87778/original/image-20150708-31563-ll6zjq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87778/original/image-20150708-31563-ll6zjq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I’m cool and I know it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yonggang Nie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So how does the panda manage to keep warm? Despite living in semitropical habitats, it does have a really thick fur coat. This serves to trap what little heat their metabolism produces inside their bodies. A direct consequence of this is that their surface temperature (measured using a thermal imaging camera) is about 10°C cooler than the surface of other black and white animals like the zebra. Pandas, it seems, are literally cool. </p>
<p>Incidentally, I also had a cool experience while carrying out this research. One day at the zoo I got distracted while feeding one of the pandas, and he reached through the bars and took a swipe at me to get the bamboo. However, he missed and ended up taking a small chunk out of my rather expensive leather jacket instead. This may seem annoying, but I chose to view it like a badge of honour. If someone asks how I damaged my coat I could in all honesty say that I got it in a “close encounter with a giant panda”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44435/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Speakman receives funding from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Science Foundation of China, the US National Institute of Health and the UK BBSRC</span></em></p>It’s official: giant pandas are cool.John Speakman, Professor, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/420512015-05-20T05:35:50Z2015-05-20T05:35:50ZKoalas, platypuses and pandas and the power of soft diplomacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82359/original/image-20150520-17690-1qrz6k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of four koalas on loan to Singapore Zoo, where they were unveiled to the public on Wednesday May 20.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Qantas Airways</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Four female koalas have just made their debut in front of an adoring public at Singapore Zoo – the latest in a long line of animals used for diplomatic purposes.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82345/original/image-20150520-24994-hk0xts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Idalia, one of four koalas now in Singapore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wrscomsg.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/koalas-arrive-in-singapore-zoo/">Wildlife Reserves Singapore</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The koalas are on loan from Australia to mark the 50th anniversary of <a href="https://www.singapore50.sg/SG50/About">Singapore’s sovereignty</a>, as well as 50 years of diplomatic relations with Australia. </p>
<p>As Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s <a href="http://foreignminister.gov.au/releases/Pages/2015/jb_mr_150409.aspx">media release</a> says, the koalas’ visit will “further build on our long-standing constructive relationship”. The four koalas will stay in Singapore for six months for now, but the gift will be made permanent once Singapore Zoo can support a koala colony.</p>
<p>The involvement of iconic animals in international diplomacy has <a href="http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=57d7e1a9-6a24-43a0-a779-4bdf253614b0%40sessionmgr112&vid=0&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=hlh&AN=43577808">a long history</a>. </p>
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<p>Arguably, the best known of the world’s animal ambassadors has been the giant panda. Between the 1950s and 1980s, China presented two dozen pandas to countries with which it wished to improve its relations. </p>
<p>Other pandas were loaned, such as Xiao Xiao and Fei Fei, exhibited at <a href="http://www.giantpandazoo.com/TarongaZoo.html">Taronga Zoo</a>, Sydney, and Melbourne Zoo to mark Australia’s Bicentenary in 1988. </p>
<p>While the practice of giving pandas permanently to other countries has now stopped, “panda diplomacy” continues with the Chinese government lending pandas, including the pair Wang Wang and Funi <a href="http://www.adelaidezoo.com.au/animals/giant-panda/">at Adelaide Zoo</a>. </p>
<h2>The tragic tale of Winston the platypus</h2>
<p>Australia’s diplomatic deployment of native animals to other countries became more formalised during World War II.</p>
<p>The platypus’s high popular appeal and scientific interest meant that it was a highly valued diplomatic gift. </p>
<p>Australia’s first platypus diplomat left Melbourne in 1943, sailing on the MV Phillip to England even as World War II raged in Europe. </p>
<p>He was named Winston in honour of the British prime minister, who had expressed an interest in acquiring the animal to H.V. Evatt, minister for external affairs and attorney-general at the time. </p>
<p>Tragically, Winston <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848611000768">the platypus died</a> only days before landing in Liverpool. Churchill wrote to Evatt that he was: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>grieved to have to tell you that the platypus you kindly sent me died on the last few days of its journey to England. Its loss is a great disappointment to me. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Churchill would have to make do with a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848611000768">stuffed platypus</a> that had been previously sent to him by Evatt, which he apparently displayed proudly on the prime ministerial desk.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82356/original/image-20150520-17707-1sy41u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Official correspondence about the sad fate of Winston the platypus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848611000768">From Natalie Lawrence's paper, The Prime Minister and the platypus: A paradox goes to war, doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.09.001</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bound for America</h2>
<p>A few years later, three more platypus envoys left Australia, this time bound for the United States, arriving in New York on April 25 1947.</p>
<p>They were a gift from the Australian government to the American people in recognition of American wartime service to Australia – a “gesture of closeness and goodwill”, declared Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Norman Makin. </p>
<p>Housed <a href="http://gothamist.com/2010/07/19/flashback_6.php#photo-1">at the Bronx Zoo</a>, the cosmopolitan monotremes attracted more than 4000 visitors a day in the months following their arrival.</p>
<p>With the Australian flag flying over their enclosure, considerable positive press were generated about Australia, including a front-page feature in The New York Times. </p>
<p>But difficulties with husbandry and a desire to have tourists come to Australia to see our native animals make it unlikely that more platypus will leave Australia in the near future. Instead, the diplomatic burden has shifted to an animal that is less of an oddity and trades more on cute appeal: the koala. </p>
<h2>Koala diplomacy</h2>
<p>Back in 1983, the then federal tourism minister, John Brown, did his best to steer Australia’s overseas image away from the koala, declaring (in a speech reported on the <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19830429&id=rmYpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tJQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6508,6000327&hl=en">front page of The Age</a>) that they were “rotten little things” and tourists would discover:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>it’s flea-ridden, it piddles on you, it stinks and it scratches.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But two generations later, Brown’s opinion has largely been forgotten. Koala diplomacy has never been bigger.</p>
<p>This was easy to see last November at <a href="http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/about-council/governance-strategy/economic-development/brisbanes-2014-g20-leaders-summit">the G20 Summit in Brisbane</a>, when grinning world leaders posed one by one holding an obliging koala. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30075241">the BBC</a>, the summit’s “most memorable images” were of the G20 leaders “cuddling up to koalas”. </p>
<p>No doubt our koalas, Paddle, Pelita, Chan and Idalia, will generate at least as much, if not more, interest in Singapore as pandas have created in Australia or platypuses did in the United States. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82341/original/image-20150520-24999-13zsrb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://zoo.com.sg/koala-mania/?gclid=CIey6Lawz8UCFcIIvAodTqIAiw">Singapore Zoo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As <a href="http://www.zoo.com.sg/koala-mania/">“koala mania”</a> takes hold in Singapore, we can reflect on the capacity of iconic, charismatic animals to communicate messages of goodwill across barriers of language and culture.</p>
<p>As John Brown suggested back in 1983, using native animals to promote Australia may risk selling short a dynamic, multicultural, resource-rich nation. </p>
<p>But our unique platypus, koalas and kangaroos do allow Australians to avoid harder decisions about how to portray ourselves to the world.</p>
<p>Pictures of cuddly animals are an effective way to market ourselves to the world as a peculiar but attractive “land down under”. They provide powerful images that nothing else – from a pile of iron ore, to live sheep on a ship, or a naval patrol vessel – can match.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nancy Cushing received funding from State Library of NSW in 2013 - 14. She is affiliated with the Australian Historical Association and the History Council of NSW.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Markwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Four female koalas have just made their debut in front of an adoring public at Singapore Zoo – the latest in a long line of animals used for diplomatic purposes, going back to Winston the platypus.Kevin Markwell, Associate Professor in tourism studies, Southern Cross UniversityNancy Cushing, Senior Lecturer in Australian History, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188932013-10-04T13:39:29Z2013-10-04T13:39:29ZPrice of captive pandas may be borne by those in the wild<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/32495/original/bzxqngf8-1380887728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Problems breeding captive pandas shouldn't distract from the problems faced by those in the wild.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Milligan/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Chinese authorities in Chengdu showed off their <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24223721">14 giant panda cubs</a> last week, it again raised questions about the role of panda breeding in zoos outside China, and whether it is a help or hindrance to their conservation in the wild.</p>
<p>From one perspective this practice isn’t even about panda conservation, but is nowadays linked more to commerce and trade agreements between China and the countries concerned - so-called <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24161385">panda diplomacy</a>. It’s also been suggested that some of the very large amounts of money needed to loan pandas from the Chinese government, money ostensibly used for panda conservation, may not in fact fund panda conservation at all.</p>
<p>These were the sort of issues that brought researchers and zoologists and biologists (myself included) to a <a href="http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/news_321.html">symposium at Edinburgh Zoo</a> last month, to hear the current state-of-the-art in panda conservation, and to help the <a href="http://www.rzss.org.uk/">Royal Zoological Society of Scotland</a> develop a research program to help pandas in the future, both in captivity and in the wild.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that this is one of the most heavily researched endangered species in the world, the elusive nature and peculiar lifestyle of wild pandas mean there is still a lot to learn about China’s “bear-cat” (the literal translation of the Chinese name, 熊貓 or <em>xióng māo</em>).</p>
<p>The symposium brought together some of China’s top panda experts, scientists and zoo curators from the US, UK and Germany, and researchers from Scotland who have been studying Edinburgh Zoo’s captive pair <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/04/giant-pandas-land-uk">Tian Tian and Yang Guang</a> since they arrived in 2011. So as the world has watched and waited (<a href="http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/edinburgh-zoo-panda-still-acting-pregnant-1.137455">and waited</a>) for news of whether Tian Tian will be the first captive panda to give birth in the UK, there were serious discussions about how the Society could use its resources to prevent the species going extinct in the wild.</p>
<p>In the last two years, Chinese authorities have been conducting the <a href="http://www.chinagiantpanda.com/pandastudyresearch/pandacensus.htm">4th National Survey</a> to attempt to document the remaining wild panda population. Estimated at around 1,600 in 2003, it may have increased following stringent protection measures and improvements in the way pandas are counted – including DNA profiling.</p>
<p>One issue raised was need for better means of assessing the success or failure of efforts to reconnect the areas of panda habitat, areas that are divided by ever-expanding development by China’s human population. In fact pandas do not always stay in their bamboo forests as we might believe. In 2005 a female panda was <a href="http://www.djygov.com/dujiangyan-pandas/">found in the city of Dujiangyan</a>, sitting in a tree next to a major road. Those who saw her were struck by her agility, speed and ability to evade capture: wild giant pandas are far from the sluggish chewing machines their captive relatives are sometimes portrayed as.</p>
<p>If, as seems possible, panda populations are slowly rising, the challenge is how to enable them to move between patches of surviving habitat near human settlements, and how to monitor them when they disperse. Ultimately it will be connections between reserves that will enable the species to occupy more of its former range.</p>
<p>But to create these corridors so that they are used, we need to know a lot more about how individual pandas use their existing habitat, and what forces them out into less familiar areas. The availability of old growth forest to provide secure and stable tree holes for females to give birth, and the correct balance of bacterial gut flora needed for this unusual bear to process its bamboo diet in all seasons are also important areas that need research.</p>
<p>For captive breeding programs the challenge remains how, or even whether, it is possible to predict whether a male and female housed together will breed. Do male pandas whose genes come from the northern part of their natural range (Shaanxi province) fancy southern females from the south of Sichuan, for example? And while artificial insemination is already used to impregnate females (as is the case with Tian Tian), could other forms of reproductive technology be used for better breeding success? Or should we simply encourage pandas to mate naturally, as they do in some zoos?</p>
<p>One thing seems clear, Edinburgh is committed to help panda conservation for the foreseeable future (their pandas are on loan for ten years), which is just as well because although Tian Tian’s hormone profiles look promising (I could tell you the details, but I would have to shoot you afterwards), a birth within the next few weeks is far from assured. And some zoos have waited almost a decade for the patter of tiny paws, with no success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18893/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Bruford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When the Chinese authorities in Chengdu showed off their 14 giant panda cubs last week, it again raised questions about the role of panda breeding in zoos outside China, and whether it is a help or hindrance…Mike Bruford, Professor of Organisms and Environment, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.