The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is well known for attracting more foreign visitors than the city of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.That trend was repeated in 2011. And many of the visitors had an extra reason for coming: Twelve panda cubs were recently born at the research base, according to Zhang Zhihe, the base chief.
Partly as a result of that, an average of 10,000 people visited the remote base in the northern suburbs of Chengdu on each of the seven days of the 2011 National Day (from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7). And almost all of them were Chinese hailing from throughout the country. At other times of the year, between 2,000 and 3,000 people come every day to the base, many of whom are overseas visitors.
Of the 12 cubs, eight are twins. On September 26, these newborn panda babies made their debut. Because they are only one or two months old, they are weak and sleep most of the time. The climax of the panda trip came on the morning of Oct 4, when the sun broke through the clouds for the first time during the holiday. Keepers put the cubs in baskets and took them to an open field for a sunbath.
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was set up in 1987 as a home for six sick pandas rescued from the wild. At that time, there were three large obstacles to breeding pandas: Captive pandas had difficulties in rutting, becoming pregnant and bringing up their cubs. After much work, researchers found ways to overcome those difficulties. As a result, the base, now home to 108 pandas, boasts of having the largest population of captive pandas in the world.
(Source: China Daily)