The giant pandas Lumi and Pyry living in Ähtäri are young, and the possibilities for natural reproduction are good, according to Professor Jukka Salo. According to him, it is thanks to panda exchange programs that the world’s panda population has doubled.
Pandas returning to China right now, when having cubs becomes more likely, would be a professor familiar with panda conservation Jukka Salon according to the whistle.
Salo was involved when negotiations took place about the arrival of the Lumi and Pyry isopandas in Ähtäri. Among other things, he is a visiting professor at the State University of Peru and a docent of tropical biology at the University of Eastern Finland, and he also does research in connection with the Biodiversity Unit of the University of Turku.
Salo reminds that giant pandas came to Finland for conservation reasons, and that is why he thinks pandas should be kept in Finland. Finland’s climate resembles the pandas’ natural environment in the Sichuan province of China. Therefore, it is hoped that the pandas will reproduce here naturally.
Salo says that in China, the central problem with panda sheltering and returning to the wild is that pandas have been made to reproduce mainly by artificial insemination.
“In 50-60 years, artificial insemination starts to have a hereditary effect on the population, and organic reproduction starts to become difficult. Chinese researchers became interested in Finland because of the climate. It’s a cold winter here, snow, and with spring suddenly comes light. In Finland, there is a possibility that pandas could reproduce organically,” says Salo.
in Finland According to Salo, the resident Pyry and Snow pandas have full potential to produce offspring.
“These pandas are young. The sexual maturity of pandas starts at the age of 8–10 years, which for this couple doesn’t really start until this spring and lasts for 15 years.”
Professor Jukka Salo.
Salo reminds that for 25 years, Finland has been doing research cooperation through the University of Turku in the Sichuan region, where the pandas come from. He mentions the collaboration between the University of Turku and China’s panda research institute CCRCGP, which, among other things, has led to the study of Panda’s adaptation to a bamboo diet.
“I do not deny that panda diplomacy exists. However, the reasons behind the pandas’ arrival in Finland are related to research.”
Pandas arrived in Ähtäri in South Ostrobothnia in January 2018. The zoo has had financial difficulties for a long time, and the possible return of the pandas has also been in the headlines in the summer of 2020, for example.
There would still be ten years left on the Pandas’ lease. According to the zoo, the pandas cost about 1.5 million euros annually.
If the pandas end up being returned to China, it would not be unprecedented. Canada ended up returning the pandas from the Calgary Zoo back to China in 2020, because the corona pandemic made it almost impossible to get the bamboo needed to feed the animals. The pandas had been living in Canada since 2013, and they had twin cubs during their years in Canada.
“The return was decided upon after negotiations,” says Salo.
According to information recently obtained by Salo, there are now about 2,200 pandas in the world. The number has more than doubled since the 1960s, when there were about a thousand pandas left. The panda is no longer considered a critically endangered species, but the species’ threat category is endangered.
“Through panda exchange programs and research cooperation, the panda population has grown. Without it, the endangered status of pandas would be dire,” says Salo.
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