Comm: "Sichuan, China. The home of the Giant Panda. This week we follow the remarkable work of Chinese
scientists as they struggle keep the species going.

"When the ancestors of human beings had only just learnt how to walk upright, the footprints of the Giant Panda were already all over East and South East Asia. But the peak population of the family of giant pandas has diminished greatly
since then. The total population of Pandas is probably about one thousand, including some 100 animals in captivity. More seriously, in captivity few of them seem to have the natural desire for copulation.

"At the Wolong Research centre, researchers are trying to breed as many giant pandas as possible in order to help maintain a viable captive population.

"With the arrival of the last snow in winter, the giant pandas at the centre reach the high point of their oestrus cycle. It is the busiest season for every researcher."

Researcher on phone: "She will be in heat. It is Xin Xing, not Pan Pan. It seems they get along with each other quite well."

Comm: "This year there are six female pandas in heat.

"During the ten-day-long oestrus cycle, the pandas are only ovulating for two days. This is a very narrow target for successful mating.

"Jia Jia is reaching the climax of her oestrous cycle. A male Giant Panda named Xin Xing has been following her signals."

Researcher: "Take care, come on, take care. Someone there bring an apple to him."

Comm: "During the mating season, Xin Xing has been visiting other females in their pens, but he has been unsuccessful. He tries to catch her scent while sending her his own. It is courting - a way of establishing familiarity.

"The next day he returns to the compound."

Researcher: "This way please. Come on. This way."

Comm: "Although we cherish the image of lovable and cuddly pandas, researchers at the centre must be very careful when dealing with such a powerful animal.

"Jia Jia is waiting for him in the pen next door."

Researcher: "Let us see whether she is injured or not. It has no interest on Pan Pan but Xin Xing, Panda is also very picky when choosing a mate."

Comm: "After such fierce exercise, Xin Xing is exhausted and is fed. This is the end of his involvement. He breaks off the romance and leaves all the rest to Jia Jia.

"The researchers are satisfied with their natural mating. However, as a precaution they get ready to perform an artificial fertilisation. This, hopefully, is a double guarantee.

"In captivity, the major problem is inbreeding - in the wild, poaching and habitat loss. To avoid inbreeding, there must be at least 500 creatures within a species. However, most pandas in zoos and breeding stations are in contact with only a dozen or less individuals. It is impossible to avoid close breeding. Artificial fertilisation however solves the problem to some degree, allowing the animals at the centre to have a wider range of partners. As a result, the pandas born here are healthy.

"When spring finally arrives Xin Xing cannot wait for a moment to breathe the fresh air. As is usual at this time, he comes back to this spot for some food.

"Jia Jia has no desire for food at all. She does not feel well as her delivery gets closer.

"Tests have shown that she is pregnant with twins this time. But this is not all good news. Unfortunately, a mother panda
is only equipped to care for a single baby. Jia Jia must give one of them up for the sake of the other.

"It is the evening of September. With great excitement all the researchers from the centre gather together whenever a giant panda is about to deliver. They wait for the big moment, and kill time by placing bets on the exact time of childbirth. Whoever says the closest time to the real moment will win."

Researchers: "Let us guess. 15 people think it will be at 9:00. I guess it will be at 11:00. Amnioric fluid started to flow out at 7.14. Who guessed the closest time? 9:08 or 9:15 I think it will be 9:14. Treat us, at least 180 Yuan. If I get it, I will not take the award but pay for a big feast."

Comm: "The period of pregnancy is about six or seven months and before the delivery the new mother has been in a jittery mood for several hours.

"People have been waiting for more than three hours and Jia Jia becomes more and more agitated. However the babies are still staying in the uterus."

Researchers: "It seems that those who guessed 8:00 will lose the game. Try again, come on. I think it will be at 9.50, maybe it is wrong. I will take a guess after the childbirth. One or twins? Hard to say. I estimate it will be around 9:00. Amniotic fluid flew out at 7:00. She began to try at 5:00. And the tail is raising. She obviously is baiting something. This posture is tail-raising. 7,8,9 now you will guess 10:00. See typical parturition Phenomenon. Yeah, typical parturition Phemenon. Shrink, the tail is shrinking. Just have another try she will let it out. Soon."

Comm: "But it will be some hours yet before anything happens. It has been four hours since the onset of labour. The researchers are excited, because there are signs that Jia Jia is ready.

"At 10:06, a little tiny life comes into the world. Is there another? The researchers have to keep on waiting.

"One hour later, the second baby comes out. Jia Jia is very anxious at this moment, she is trying to pick up the two babies in her mouth at the same time, but every attempt ends in failure. The researchers intervene.

"The infants of the giant panda are more dependent on their mothers than many other mammals. Only the milk of the mother can help it develop a proper immune system. However nobody has found a way to get milk from a mother panda, let alone make a synthetic substitute. This is one of the chief reasons why it is so hard to breed pandas in captivity. Of the 20 giant pandas born every year in the world in captivity, few of them survive.

"Although researchers have tried their best to save the struggling twin, three days later, it stops breathing. Jia Jia holds the remaining baby tightly and tenderly. It is a boy, and the researchers have named him Shuang Shuang.

"Jia Jia takes care of baby feeding from researchers hand. The giant panda is a most careful and considerate breeder - with the strongest sense of motherhood. For the first few days after giving birth, she refuses to eat and drink and totally concentrates on her baby. She hugs it in the warmest part of her body day and night, and licks it clean. This also helps it to excrete since its abdominal muscles are weak. The mother has to use her tongue to give it a massage on the belly. Jia Jia will take care of Shuang Shuang like this for two or three months.

"One month later, Jia Jia finally allows herself a moment to relax. The researchers have been waiting for this chance to give Shuang Shuang a proper medical examination. Although the infant still cannot open its eyes, obviously he can feel changes in its surroundings, and it makes its feelings known. Every creature has a natural breeding instinct, and so does the giant panda. But around the world there are many volunteers trying to save the panda from extinction. It really is one of the luckiest of endangered species.

"Once again it is winter in the mountains. It is time to separate the child from the parent. Shuang Shuang is old enough now to live on substitute foods.

"The researchers wait for the right moment."

Researchers: "How heavy you are! No milk from your mother anymore baby."

Comm: "Although it will be difficult for both mother and baby, this separation is vital."

Researchers: "How naughty you are. Look at yourself, so dirty."

Comm: "Like many creatures, giant pandas do not conceive while rearing their young. In the wild, a new-born panda has to live with its mother for one and a half or two years before it can survive on its own. This means that it will be one and a half or two years before the female panda can become pregnant again. By weaning in advance, Jia Jia can conceive again in the same year of her last birth. Measures such as this are important if the giant panda is to be saved."

Researchers: "Finish it, finish it. Do you want to clean by yourself? It is empty."

Comm: "Jia Jia returns to her dormitory, and looks around for her baby. It is distressing, but her efforts have helped enormously in the preservation of giant pandas.

"This year the Wolong Chinese Giant Panda Protection Center has been successful in breeding two infants in total. It may seem like a small number, but around the world only 50 pandas are born every year, and out of this number only 20 have a
chance to grow up. These two baby pandas are incredibly precious.

"Shuang Shuang is getting bigger and naughtier every day. He takes risks, climbing to such heights, but it is fine for the tiny panda if he was living in the wild, he would climb much higher.

"One year has passed, and now Jia Jia is 21 years old. The researchers at the centre have decided that now is the right
time for her retirement after granting the world so many precious offspring. At the research centre she can spend the rest of her life with no worry about danger or starvation. But however well she is cared for, it can never be a real home for Jia Jia and her children.

"Shuang Shuang is a sweet but clumsy boy. In the wild, his mother would teach him how to live independently at once. He would learn skills such as food-gathering, choosing his environment, problem solving, self-defence, climbing and swimming.

"Scientists are now investigating ways to let them go back to where they belong - in nature. It is this that will complete the work of the researchers here. Work which is ensuring the survival of the giant
panda."