Chuang Chuang the panda has been spending his days in front of a television watching panda porn.
Authorities at the Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand hope the images will encourage him to mate with his partner, Lin Hui, and serve as an instructional lesson in how to do it right.
So far it has been a tough sell, according to the zoo's chief veterinarian, Kanika Limtrakul.
"Chuang Chuang seems indifferent to the videos. He has no reaction to what he's seeing on TV," Mr Kanika said yesterday. "But we're continuing to show him videos and hoping they will leave an impression."
So far it has been a tough sell, according to the zoo's chief veterinarian, Kanika Limtrakul.
"Chuang Chuang seems indifferent to the videos. He has no reaction to what he's seeing on TV," Mr Kanika said yesterday. "But we're continuing to show him videos and hoping they will leave an impression."
Every day for the past week, Chuang Chuang has been taken from his outdoor environment of rocks and trees to an indoor cage set up in front of a big-screen television. Animal experts then put on a DVD that shows pandas mating.
At first they kept the sound off, but noticed that the images alone were not grabbing Chuang Chuang's attention, so they turned up the volume, said Prasertsak Buntrakoonpoontawee, head of the zoo's panda project.
"Before, he might have been clumsy and not known how to approach and react to a female panda. Now he will remember and imitate the video," Mr Prasertsak said.
The exercise will continue for about another week. Then Chuang Chuang will be reunited with his partner.
At first they kept the sound off, but noticed that the images alone were not grabbing Chuang Chuang's attention, so they turned up the volume, said Prasertsak Buntrakoonpoontawee, head of the zoo's panda project.
"Before, he might have been clumsy and not known how to approach and react to a female panda. Now he will remember and imitate the video," Mr Prasertsak said.
The exercise will continue for about another week. Then Chuang Chuang will be reunited with his partner.
Zoo officials say the two pandas have been kept separate since late last year as part of efforts to spark some romance between them.
Chuang Chuang was recently put on a strict diet because zoo officials said he was too heavy to mate.
The diet trimmed him down from 150 kilograms to 142 kilograms.
AP
Giant pandas, especially those in captivity, have such low sexual desires it is threatening their future, prompting workers to turn to artificial insemination to keep the endangered species going. Only about 1,100 giant pandas still survive in the wild, along the edge of the Tibetan plateau in China.
But rather than use drugs such as Viagra to help giant pandas boost their sexual desire, centers believe sex education and physical exercise will make all the difference, says Zhang Guiquan, an official with the China Giant Panda Protection Center.
For long periods, more than 60 percent of adult male giant pandas in protection areas or zoos lack any sexual desire. Only 10 percent of them are capable of natural mating and only 30 percent of female giant pandas become pregnant and give birth.
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