Ya Ya & the 2010 cubs in Chengdu
A female panda has taken on the role as mother and nurser for seven cubs in southwest China’s Chengdu Panda Base, as their birth mothers are engaged in artificial insemination.
Ya Ya, now 22-year-old, almost 90 years of age in human terms, has been breastfeeding and taking care of seven cubs for nearly a year. Ya Ya was named after the 1990 Asian Games (“Ya Yun” in Chinese) in Beijing, as she was born just days before its opening.
The loving mother has continually given great care and affection to cubs as she herself has given birth to 13 babies, of whom 12 survived. She always encourages her cubs to find apples thrown in by the keepers from time to time.
The baby pandas will be weaned off in four months, when they turn two years old, according to staff members at the panda base.
“One of the benefits is to ensure each of the cubs gets enough milk. In addition, they can learn a lot of survival skills with their mother, which not only benefits the cubs’ growth and health, but improves the quality of the whole species in the long term,” said Lan Jingchao, president of the veterinary hospital at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
The birth mothers of the cubs, chosen to artificially conceive in their mating season between March and May, are expected to give birth between August and October this year.
Giant pandas reach sexual maturity between the ages of four and eight, and may be reproductive until age 20.
Click here for CCTV‘s movie about Ya Ya & the 2010 cubs in Chengdu.
