Pandas: Evolution's big fat (adorable) mistake?

But Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling — and fruitless panda cohabitants in zoos everywhere—are not representative of the species, says Matt Durnin, a conservation specialist with the Nature Conservancy’s China Program. "Reproduction is not a limiting factor in the wild—they seem to be doing fine out there. We only see problems in captivity because the way they live there is in such contrast to their natural lives."

In the wild, male pandas compete with each other for females, who then select their mates —behaviors inextricably linked to the natural motivation for mating. "If you pull a man and a woman off the street and stick them in a room together," Durnin says, "you can't just expect them to start making babies." As for the male panda's embarrassing lack of sex know-how, Durnin says it may be an unfortunate consequence of breeders' desire to maximize cub production. In the wild, panda cubs usually stay with their mothers for about two years; breeding centers in China remove cubs at about six months to a year to make sure the mother ovulates during the next breeding season." Young pandas are thus denied an important period of social interaction and the opportunity to observe appropriate mating behavior.

The purported physical problems — genitalia size and mating period — are greatly dramatized. It's true that females are in heat for only three days or so per year, but that mating period is only slightly shorter than most other bears'. And as for the mismatched genitalia, Owen says it's not a big deal. "They get the job done," she says. Big penises may seem more effective, but many large mammals — particularly other bears — have relatively small ones. "It's definitely a struggle to get correct positioning, but if they're motivated, they do what they need to do."

Reproduction in captivity has greatly improved since the difficult days of Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing. Intra-couple fighting can be avoided by putting males and females together only when the female is receptive — a state that panda specialists can now accurately determine by the female's behavior. And cubs now have a survival rate close to 100 percent, Owen says, "possibly due to the undisturbed environment that zoos are trying to create." Some zoos are also experimenting with leaving the cubs with their mothers for longer and sheltering them from gawking tourists, but the effects have not yet been analyzed.

So it's true: Pandas did not evolve … in zoos. They evolved to find their own food and seek out their mates in dense bamboo forests after being raised by their real mothers, not by zookeepers. The panda's weaknesses in today's world—from its failure to reproduce in captivity to its yawn-inspiring lifestyle — is a product of its natural history, not a malicious joke of an intelligent designer.

Humanity's experience with pandas has shown us that saving the species is not going to be easy — or cheap. In fact, eminent conservationist Chris Packham has called panda conservation "possibly one of the grossest wastes of conservation money in the last half century.” He said he "would eat the last panda" if it meant he could transfer all the money thrown at pandas to other, "more sensible" species (like insects, rodents, and plants) or to entire habitats.

MORE FROM SCIENCE

Science Section Front

Snowflakes on Christmas cards drawn wrong   Why bees always have a safe landing Ancient tree (almost) older than dirt Ancient Mayans likely had fountains and toilets How one odd duck says 'no' to sex Decades of future science Santa Claus: The real man behind the myth First Jesus-era house found in Nazareth How much real science is in ‘Avatar’? Turkey-sized dino packed venom in its fangs Science Section Front   Add Science headlines to your news reader: