Satellites to snoop on sex lives of love-shy pandas

CHINESE scientists are to use satellite technology for the first time to spy on the sexual activities of the giant panda to discover why the animals are so reluctant to breed.

A joint China-United States project will use global positioning satellites (GPS) developed by the US military to observe giant pandas in the Foping nature reserve in central Shaanxi province, a remote mountainous area in the west.

China regards the giant panda as a key cultural icon. However, poaching by fur traders and the destruction of the animals' natural forest habitat for logging and human settlement are keeping numbers low.

There are now only an estimated 1,600 pandas living in the wild - mostly in the south-west Sichuan province and another 120 in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos.

Wei Fuwen, a senior researcher at the China Academy of Sciences' Institute of Zoology in Beijing, said: "Tracking them with advanced technology and observing their sex activities might help us find ways to avoid their extinction.

"Giant pandas are inaccessible for long periods of time and traditional observation cannot unravel the ecological mystery of the animals."

Officials said the institute would run the three-year 548,580 project with the US Zoological Society of San Diego, California, but did not give technical details about how the animals would be monitored.

The low libido of male giant pandas has puzzled scientists who have tried various measures including showing male captive pandas educational videos of other pandas mating, feeding them bamboo-shaped vitamin enriched biscuits and upgrading their exercise regime.

David Cowdrey, the director of the World Wildlife Fund's wildlife trade campaign said: "The problem is that giant pandas have a large territorial range for foraging and eating. The first thing which would be essential would be to find the animals and then tag them, which is an extremely difficult thing to do. Even then, what would two signals dotting together signify? Male giant pandas often chase after other males, so it might be confusing."

Mr Cowdrey said although the male giant panda was not known for its agility, it could perform surprising feats which could be impossible for satellites to detect.

"Males mark their territory with a scent by performing handstands and peeing upwards and backwards so that other males will think they are taller, bigger animals than they really are. Their behaviour is so complex that I don't see how satellite technology will be able to pick up these small, but highly important indicators for breeding."