In March of this year, two patrollers captured footage of two courting giant pandas in the Gongyi Sea area of Shimian County, Ya’an. The pandas are “Tao Tao” and “Hua Yan,” both of which have been released into the wild. This marks the first time in the country that such mating behavior between two released giant pandas has been documented on-site (How Do Giant Pandas Find Mates?).
On September 2, a reporter from Sichuan Observation learned from the management station of the Giant Panda National Park in Shimian County that during a patrol in March 2024, patrollers Huang Hao and a colleague unexpectedly encountered the two pandas and recorded their mating interactions. To avoid disturbing the pandas, the patrollers chose to leave the area and returned the next day to collect their feces. Recently, laboratory staff member Zhu Yudong analyzed the fecal samples collected from March to July 2024 in the Gongyi Sea area. Through microsatellite DNA testing, it was confirmed that the male panda in the video is the released panda “Tao Tao,” while the female panda is “Hua Yan.”
The management station also collaborated with Professor Zhu Lifeng’s team from Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to conduct hormone research. They found that “Tao Tao” had stress hormone and testosterone levels above 300 mg/g, while “Hua Yan” had a stress hormone level of 57 mg/g and a progesterone level of 767 mg/g, indicating that both released giant pandas are in estrus.
“Tao Tao,” a male panda, is now 14 years old. He was released in the Mamada area of the Liziping Nature Reserve on December 10, 2012 (when he was 2 years old) and has been surviving in the wild for about 12 years, establishing a stable activity area in places like Dahong Mountain, Dalingchang, Mamada, and Changpingzi.
“Hua Yan,” a female panda, is now 11 years old. She was released in the Mamada area of the Liziping Nature Reserve on October 21, 2016, alongside “Zhang Meng” (when she was 3 years old) and has survived in the wild for about 8 years, mainly active in the Mamada area and nearby Dalingchang.
“It’s definitely very exciting! The reserve has been established for 24 years, and this is the first time we’ve captured such footage. It proves that they have developed wild instincts, can mate, reproduce, and court each other. This is a new advancement and discovery for rewilding efforts,” Zhu Yudong explained. Previous years of monitoring have confirmed the healthy survival of released individuals adapting to the wild environment. This experimental result further indicates that “Tao Tao” and “Hua Yan” have integrated into the local population and are participating in mating and reproduction. This marks a new phase in the exploration of rewilding giant pandas to strengthen isolated small populations and demonstrates the significance of rewilding for maintaining the sustainable development and recovery of small panda populations. It also provides important insights for future rewilding work.
It is known that among the 33 local wild giant panda populations in the country, 22 face extinction risks due to isolated small populations. The Sichuan Liziping National Nature Reserve, located in the Xiao Xiangling Mountain range in Shimian County, Ya’an, has a low genetic diversity of local small populations due to the small number of pandas. This area has become the first to adopt proactive artificial intervention measures. The Gongyi Sea area, where “Tao Tao” and “Hua Yan” were filmed, is located here.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that capturing the courtship behavior of two released giant pandas on-site is a global first,” said Li Jianwei, deputy director of the management bureau of Sichuan Liziping National Nature Reserve. Currently, Liziping has released a total of 8 giant pandas that underwent rewilding training, all of which have reached breeding age.
At present, China has established three rewilding sites for giant pandas: Xiao Xiangling Liziping, Longxi-Hongkou, and Daxiangling. Over the past 20 years, 12 captive giant pandas have been successfully rewilded and released, with 10 currently alive, promoting the recovery of two small panda populations in the Xiao Xiangling and southern Minshan regions.
