Captive panda gives birth to twins from counterpart in wild

A female giant panda in captivity gave birth to twins after mating with a wild panda, which would increase the vitality and gene diversity of captive pandas.

Cao Cao, a 16-year-old giant panda, gave birth to a male and female cub at the Wolong Hetaoping Wild Training Base in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Wednesday, according to a statement sent to the Global Times by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda on Monday.

The statement said the male cub was born ahead and weighed 215 grams, while the female weighed 84 grams.

The center initiated the project of having captive pandas mate with wild counterparts in 2016. This is the first time twins were born from the project.

Cao Cao was transferred from the Wolong base this February and mated with a wild male panda on March 18, the statement said.

Cao Cao, already a mother of seven, including two pairs of twins, was the first panda chosen for the pilot breeding program. The center said Cao Cao was chosen because she had been trained in the wild.

On July 31, 2017, Cao Cao gave birth to a male cub after mating with a wild panda.

“The project will introduce new genes to the captive pandas, add vitality and diversify to their offspring,” Zhang Hemin, the center’s executive deputy director, said.

Zhang Zhizhong, the center’s Party chief, said that Cao Cao would also provide the experience and method for the conservation of other endangered mammals, the statement said.

As of November 2017, 471 pandas were in captivity worldwide. However, its genetic diversity has been shrinking, as captive pandas have been mating mainly with each other.