Panda Conservation Turns Its Sights to Fieldwork
In the absence of face-to-face encounters, pandas court each other with odors.
After eight years of intensive research effort with captive giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca, CRES scientists in the Giant Panda Conservation Division are beginning to turn their sights to field-based conservation. After visiting candidate reserves and seeking suitable Chinese collaborators, they found an ideal situation, choosing to begin their work at the Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province. This premier reserve will be the focus of joint studies with Chinese zoologists. The reserve staff is well trained and maintains an active wildlife-monitoring program. These factors make this a unique opportunity to commence a program to study the behavior and ecology of wild pandas, using what has been learned from captive animals to guide the research agenda. Research activities will include evaluating foraging strategies, limiting resources, human disturbance, maternal care patterns, and mating strategies, to name a few. Long-term data collection will promote the development of a scientifically guided conservation management program for wild pandas.
Collaborative work on mating strategies commenced in 2004. Foping staff and Institute of Zoology (IOZ), Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers obtained video footage of several matings, making detailed analysis of courtship and mating behavior of wild pandas possible for the first time. Although the sample size is small, preliminary findings are exciting. Several males congregate around the estrous female and compete for priority of access. When a winner is determined, the female comes down out of the trees and mates with the victor. In one case, the female mated with a different male of unknown origin on the following day. The behavioral details of the courtship process are strikingly similar to those seen in captive pandas, providing further validation for years of CRES work on captive pandas.
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