China announces first panda from frozen sperm

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

BEIJING — China announced the first successful birth of a panda cub from artificial insemination using frozen sperm, giving a new option for the notoriously poor breeders, officials said Friday.

Panda females have only three days a year in which they can conceive — one reason their species is endangered.

Female panda You You (pronounced Yo Yo) gave birth to the new cub Thursday morning at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in southwestern Sichuan. It is You You's third baby, and the 10th panda cub born at Wolong this year.

Just after dawn, the pinkish, hairless cub emerged, and its mother licked the baby to clean it, according to footage shown by state broadcaster CCTV.

Panda researchers said Friday that they believe it's the first successful live birth worldwide using frozen panda sperm.

"We did try before but it failed," said Huang Yan, a deputy research technician with the China Panda Preservation Research Center.

The technique has been tried in other countries but this was the first known instance of a live birth, he said.

The sperm from male panda Lolo had been frozen for "a number of years," said Huang, though he did not give details.






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[ashling]

1. The Panda cub is apperantly doing fine, except

it can't stop shivering. :scared::scared:



:rofl:

[No Elephants]

2. China's really into reproducing mice and pandas. Humans, though, can have only 1 child.

It's a brave new world.

[gmoney]

3. Why do I want to make some sort of Klondike bar joke?