Happy Thanksgiving indeed! Researchers say that two-year old trick of showing pandas DVDs of pandas properly mating has really helped the lovable creatures successfully mate. From the AP:
It is one of many techniques tried over the decades to get captive pandas — notoriously poor breeders — to do it, and do it right. The efforts to understand and simulate conditions for mating and raising cubs have paid off in China, the panda’s native habitat. Now comes the next test: getting the magic to work outside China.
The big day will come in January, when Prasertsak Buntragulpoontawee hopes to bring off a successful mating between male Chuang Chuang and partner Lin Hui in this northern Thailand city.
The audio-visual approach “is the same idea as chimpanzees seeing people smoke and then copying it,” says the Thai researcher.
Researchers actually cite a number of factors in helping captive pandas reproduce at record levels (31 births this year!), things like research into panda biology, nutrition and genetics.
We wonder if panda porn is taken from zoo tapes monitoring panda activity; we watched the DC pandas mate (unsuccessfully) back in 2003.
