Panda's Homes, Husbandry, and Personality Under Investigation
We're focusing on three factors in our research: the characteristics of enclosures, husbandry practices, and individual temperaments - basically panda personality, and asking how variation in these factors correlates with sexual behavior. Collecting data on these factors involves extensive, detailed interview of giant panda keepers about their daily routines, direct measurements of enclosures and their features, and behavioral testing of pandas.


Behavioral testing is a way of assessing temperament in animals. We place a novel object and a novel scent in the enclosure with a panda and record its response. For example, if an animal takes a long time to approach a novel object, that animal may be categorized as "tentative" or "fearful."

If it works for rhinos, why not pandas?
Former National Zoo scientists Kathy Carlstead and Devra Kleiman developed this behavioral assessment. In cooperation with scientists at many other U.S. zoos, they assessed black rhinos, for instance. They found that large enclosures that did not have walls as barriers correlated with good breeding success, as did the female of a pair being dominant to the male. On the other hand, using chlorine bleach to clean enclosures was negatively correlated with breeding success.

David M. Powell, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scientist, Giant Panda Behavior Studies, Smithsonian's National Zoological Park
Over the summer I studied pandas at the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in the Wolong Reserve, the Chengdu Zoo and Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Ocean Park in Hong Kong and the Beijing Zoo. My analysis won't be complete for a while, but I'm optimistic that the large number of pandas I was able to observe at the four sites, coupled with variation among the sites, will offer insight into improving breeding success in giant pandas. more on David Powell

My first stop was the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong. > next page | 3 |

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