Survival of the fittest: China’s captive-bred pandas get new life in the wild

BEIJING - Nestled in the heart of central China’s Sichuan province lies a haven for giant pandas, annually drawing millions of tourists from home and abroad all eager to see these beloved creatures, who are being given a new lease on life in their natural habitat across three sanctuaries: Wolong, Mt Siguniang and Jiajin Mountains.

These refuges, collectively known as the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, are home to more than 30 per cent of the world’s pandas covering 924,500 hectares with seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks constituting the largest remaining contiguous habitat of the giant panda, according to Unesco World Heritage Centre.

Their role in protecting and bolstering the panda population is of great significance to China as the animal has long been viewed as a national treasure, their name and cartoon images holding pride of place on brands for products ranging from TVs to cigarettes, and as mascots for the pivotal 2008 Beijing Olympics.

They have also been used in so-called “panda diplomacy,” a practice of gifting the animals to foreign countries as a show of goodwill to foster closer ties. This stretches back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), but is just as relevant today, with the announcement last month by the China’s Wildlife Conservation Association that it is working on an agreement to send more pandas to the U.S. in a sign of warming ties.

Yet, beyond providing cute animals for the adoring gaze of countless millions and the machinations of international diplomacy lies an even more significant endeavor that goes back just two decades. It is at the Sichuan sanctuaries that researchers are pioneering the breeding of pandas in captivity for eventual release into the wild. Unesco describes it as the “most important site for captive breeding.”

It is a formidable task, with each panda requiring rigorous training to adapt to life in the wild – known as “wild training” – that can last up to seven years. But, as with China’s success in reintroducing other captive-bred species into the natural environment like the elk, Przewalski’s wild horses, and crested ibis, the journey for pandas, which until as recently as 2016 were listed as “endangered,” while arduous, has seen success – but also setbacks.

Since 2003, 10 of the 12 captive-bred pandas released into the wild so far have survived, according to Zhang Yue, an inspector at the National Forestry and Grassland Administration’s wildlife protection department, who spoke at a press conference on Jan 24, 2024.

The success of the program was never assured and indeed a low point came right at the beginning, with the tragic fate of Xiang Xiang, the world’s first panda bred and raised in captivity and released into the wilderness in 2006. His untimely death in a suspected violent encounter with wild-bred pandas prompted a four-year suspension of the program, with releases only resuming two years later in 2012.

Besides Xiang Xiang, another panda called Xue died soon after its release in 2014 due to suspected bacterial infection. Ultimately, success comes down to the survival of the fittest and those that can be trained to adapt the best.

Despite the early setbacks, researchers refused to be discouraged and are pushing ahead – albeit slowly. By the end of last year, two additional panda cubs, trained by researchers at the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital, had progressed to the second stage of training. If all goes well, these cubs are expected to enter the wild by year’s end, Caixin has learned.

No longer ‘endangered’

China’s efforts to bolster its panda population have borne fruit. In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced that the giant panda had been downgraded from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the organisation’s Red List of threatened species. A species is considered ‘endangered’ if the population is restricted to fewer than 250 mature individuals, and “vulnerable” if there are fewer than 1,000, according to the IUCN.

“This is not to say that the decline in the threat level means the threat is gone completely,” Xu Weihua, a professor at the Research Center of Eco-Environmental Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Caixin. “Wild panda populations are far from returning to the levels of the 1970s and still face a lot of threats, among which the main problems are population isolation and habitat fragmentation.”

Despite efforts in recent years to establish ecological corridors for pandas, it has not fundamentally solved the problem, said Xu, who is also a deputy director of the National Park Research Institute.

Of particular concern is the rapid expansion of human infrastructure, including roads, hydroelectric power stations, mining, and tourism, all of which have intensified the strain on panda habitats, exacerbating habitat fragmentation.

The latest panda survey by the National Forestry Administration and the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management spanning from 2011 to 2014 uncovered alarming human encroachment, with 319 hydropower stations, 1,339 kilometres of roads, 268.7 kilometres of high-voltage power lines, 984 residential areas, 479 mines, and 25 scenic spots located within the panda’s natural environment.

The survey covered panda habitats in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, specifically in the mountains of Minshan, Qionglai Shan, Qinling, Liangshan, Daxiangling, and Xiaoxiangling.

Human disturbance has led to the fragmentation of the panda’s natural environment into 33 habitat patches, with nine measuring less than 10,000 hectares, according to the survey. Among them, only six support a population exceeding 100 pandas, while 18 are home to fewer than 10, the survey found.

Pandas are not alone in being impacted by human encroachment. Wildlife populations including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have seen a 69 per cent drop on average since 1970, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022.

Amidst the alarming decline in all animal species, conservation biologists have since the 1980s championed the idea of releasing captive-bred animals into the wild, igniting discussions on the viability of reintroducing captive pandas to their native habitats.

And since the late 1990s, the burgeoning population of captive-bred pandas has not only brought population numbers back from near extinction, it has also emerged as a promising pool of panda’s that could potentially be released into the wild.

Despite the gains, the situation is in stark contrast to how it once was. Considered a relict species, giant pandas have roamed the planet for 8 million years, predating human existence. Once widespread across China, their fossils have been unearthed in 16 provinces.

However, a shifting natural environment and human encroachment since the Neolithic Age forced these iconic bears to retreat to the upper Yangtze River region. Today, wild pandas find refuge only in the rugged mountains and deep valleys in Sichuan and Gansu provinces.

Rising numbers

Since 1974, the Chinese government under the auspices of the National Forestry Administration and the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management has conducted decadal surveys to monitor panda populations, distribution and habitat. The most recent survey, from 2011 to 2014, revealed a heartening increase in wild panda numbers, totalling 1,864 — a 16.8 per cent surge from previous counts, following drastic habitat loss during the 1980s due to widespread deforestation.

That compares to 728 captive pandas around the world, including those China has given or lent to other countries, said Zhang.

A 1997 report jointly authored by the Ministry of Forestry and the WWF China Project Office underscored a crucial shift in panda conservation strategies. By emphasising how panda conservation extends beyond just artificial breeding, the report highlights the imperative of endowing pandas with the requisite biological traits to survive and thrive in the wild.

Survival training

Survival, even after training, is far from assured. In April 2006, the release of 5-year-old captive-bred panda, Xiang Xiang, into the wild marked a significant milestone in conservation efforts at Wolong National Nature Reserve, a Unesco World Heritage Site. With a mild cool and rainy climate, the reserve’s lush, mountainous terrain provides an ideal natural habitat for pandas.

However, by year-end, monitoring data revealed unsettling deviations in Xiang Xiang’s behavior, prompting researchers to track him down only to discover the panda lying injured in a bamboo forest. Suspected to have engaged in a territorial dispute, Xiang Xiang sustained injuries to his back, hind legs, and palms.

He recovered from these injuries only to be killed a month later in what was suspected to be a fall from trees after being pursued by wild-born pandas.

Post-mortem findings prompted a re-examination of the training process prior to release, highlighting concerns about pandas being overly dependent on humans, particularly as Xiang Xiang only began training as a sub-adult – 19 months to 4-1/2 years – and was fed by humans up to the age of two.

In light of this setback, from the second phase of the program, starting in 2010, researchers deliberately minimised human intervention, allowing panda cubs to be raised by their mothers in a bid to cultivate a more natural environment conducive to adapting to life in the wilderness.

Starting when the cubs are around 20 days old, caretakers don a so-called “panda man” suit – essentially a costume designed to resemble a panda – imbued with the scent of panda urine or faeces as they interact with the cubs, according to researcher Mou Shijie at Tiantaishan Wild Training Base. This emphasises the importance of preventing a dependency on humans, said Mou.

To further nurture their independence from humans and replicate a natural environment, mothers of the baby pandas are involved in the wilderness survival training right from birth.

Under this approach, the mother bear is involved in the training with her baby for nearly three years, He Shengshan, director of the animal management department at Wolong Hetaoping Panda Base, told Caixin. From two months old, the panda cubs start crawling, then walking at four months, and climbing trees by six months, said He, who joined the wild release program team in 2013.

Amidst the towering walnut trees at Wolong Hetaoping Panda base, He witnessed firsthand how mother pandas instruct their cubs in the art of tree climbing. The process unfolds organically, with mothers initially supporting cubs against trunks and gradually letting them climb independently, intermittently pulling them down as they ascend.

He observed that such maternal guidance fosters rapid learning, in sharp contrast with prior human-led attempts that proved ineffective. Notably, cubs aged 6 months to 2-and-half years spend much of their time in trees, He said.

Panda cubs embark on the second stage of wild training at 6-to-12 months, marking a critical transition as they are weaned off breast milk and adapt to a bamboo-based diet. Researchers meticulously assess their development and health by monitoring weight and assessing their movement, as the cubs immerse themselves in the genuine wilderness alongside their mothers.

This phase encompasses essential skills such as foraging for bamboo and seeking water, while also navigating encounters with potential threats like wild boars, hairy deer, and Sichuan golden hair monkeys.

With the pandas tagged with GPS-enabled collars, researchers like Mou stationed at Tiantaishan Wild Training Base track their movements on a daily basis, ensuring the mother-cub duo remains together and monitoring their faecal samples for analysis.

Researchers have also observed unexpected behaviours by panda cubs during the training. One cub named Qin Xin displayed a remarkable ability to escape by digging holes under enclosure fences, despite staff’s attempts to block them. Venturing far from the training area, Qin Xin would return sporadically to breastfeed at night before resuming its exploration, confounding researchers who struggled to locate it via the tracking collar.

Mou speculated that it might have stumbled upon successful escape tactics through trial and error, which is exactly what researchers hope for the released pandas, indicating they have adapted well to life in the wild.

Reproduction hopes

But simply surviving in the wild is just the beginning. The ultimate aim is integration and reproduction within the existing wild panda population, Wu Daifu, head of Wolong Hetaoping Panda Base, told Caixin.

Female pandas are considered more acceptable by wild panda groups, given their ability to bear cubs. Among the 10 surviving released pandas, eight are females, all now at the prime reproduction age of seven. However, there is no direct evidence of genetic contribution to the wild panda population, Wu said, suggesting they have yet to successfully reproduce.

The wild release program has maintained an experimental status, training only two to three pandas annually, noted Wu. Scaling up requires an improvement in infrastructure, such as expanding the training area. Currently, the training area can only accommodate two pairs of pandas at a time, with a maximum of three pairs, he added.

Jiang Zhigang, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, lauded China’s strides in panda conservation, but also stressed the necessity of a broader application of wild training and release.

The survival rate of released captive animals averages around 10 per cent, making the panda’s 80 per cent survival rate particularly noteworthy, Jiang said. He stressed the importance of meticulous research into release sites, urging systematic investigation into potential changes in panda distribution, population, and habitats following over a decade since the fourth panda survey.

CAIXIN GLOBAL