Since early 1990s，we have used artificial insemination to increase the number of pandas，cloning pandas，controlling the female's heat and ovulation periods by injecting hormones，then putting the male's sperm into it，thus resulting in a new being.
In the past six years，the method has produced six twins and seven single babies.
But the method of artificial insemination is still far from satisfactory with regard to the fate of the whole family. Moreover，because pandas usually produce only a small number of eggs and sperms，and when the female panda can't take part in the mating, the method won't work.
In 1997, the more ambitious plan-to clone the panda started. The experiment aims to implant a nucleolus of a panda's body cell into a denucleated ovum, thus producing a completely new being.
We are aware that deformity, stillbirth and early death are regular occurrences in cloned animals. Moreover, statistics show that the abnormal embryo gene occurs less than 1 percent to natural births, 15 percent to test-tube babies and 50 percent to cloned animals.
The true challenge is the second step of cloning a pandaproducing a new panda baby in the matrix of another kind of animals. At present, we're not sure which animal will be the ideal "surrogate mother". You may say that the rabbit should be the "mother", since the embryo was produced in the rabbit's ovum. However, the problem is that the rabbit's matrix is too small for a baby panda. In addition, the gestation period of the panda is between 87 to 170 days, while for a rabbit, it is less than 30 days. How can a rabbit conceive a panda?
Even if a panda is cloned, it only has the DNA of the panda that provided the body cell. Therefore, to a certain degree, cloning does nothing to protect the animals. If a baby panda lives with the "surrogate mother", say a dog or bear, and thus learns the mother's behavior and habits, it will simply become a dog or a bear with a panda's body. What, then, is the point of panda cloning?
In any case, panda cloning has attracted so much attention. We are ruthlessly faced with the hard fact that pandas have a very poor propagation capacity，thus bringing them to the brink of extinction．Of course，panda cloning is by no means meant to replace natural propagation. Quite on the contrary，cloning is complementary to natural and artificial methods. Our position is that we will try the method of panda cloning as long as it is beneficial to the protection of pandas． |