General Information
Giant Pandas reach breeding maturity between the ages of 4 and 8 and may continue reproducing until about 20. Females only ovulate once a year, in the spring. They can only conceive for a brief 2 to 3 day period. Males and females use calls and scents to attract the opposite sex. Females give birth 95-160 days after mating. (More information on gestation further down). Females can give birth to two cubs, but usually only one survives. Cubs stay with their mother up to 3 years. A wild female can only reproduce every other year. A female may only raise 5-8 cubs in her lifetime. The naturally slow reproductive rates of giant pandas prevent a population from recovering quickly from illegal hunting, habitat loss and other human-related causes of death.
Life Cycle
At birth cubs weigh about 3-5 ounces and are the size of a stick of butter. They are pink and hairless and are about 1/900 the size of their mother. Cubs open their eyes after 6 to 8 weeks and are mobile after 3 months. Panda cubs are nutritionally weaned at 8 to 9 months but not socially weaned until about 2 years. The cubs leave their mother at 1 and a half to 2 years. Pandas live to about 20 in the wild, but can live to 30 in captivity.
Peculiarities
Females will only show interest in mating for those 2-3 days in the Spring during ovulation. Males will remain sexually active for longer, in order to impregnate more than one female. One very interesting detail about giant panda reproduction is that the female has delayed implantation. Delayed implantation means that a fertilized egg does not immediately implant on the mothers uterine wall, but it "floats" around in the mothers reproductive tract for unknown lengths of time. Because of this, we don't know for sure how long the gestation period of a giant panda is, but that it is somewhere between 95 and 160 days.
Male and Female Differences
The organs and structure of the reproductive system is the same as humans.
Females:
Vagina
Uterus
Fallopian Tubes
Ovaries
Cervix
Males:
Penis
Scrotum
Vas Deferens
Testicles
Urethra
Giant Pandas reach breeding maturity between the ages of 4 and 8 and may continue reproducing until about 20. Females only ovulate once a year, in the spring. They can only conceive for a brief 2 to 3 day period. Males and females use calls and scents to attract the opposite sex. Females give birth 95-160 days after mating. (More information on gestation further down). Females can give birth to two cubs, but usually only one survives. Cubs stay with their mother up to 3 years. A wild female can only reproduce every other year. A female may only raise 5-8 cubs in her lifetime. The naturally slow reproductive rates of giant pandas prevent a population from recovering quickly from illegal hunting, habitat loss and other human-related causes of death.
Life Cycle
At birth cubs weigh about 3-5 ounces and are the size of a stick of butter. They are pink and hairless and are about 1/900 the size of their mother. Cubs open their eyes after 6 to 8 weeks and are mobile after 3 months. Panda cubs are nutritionally weaned at 8 to 9 months but not socially weaned until about 2 years. The cubs leave their mother at 1 and a half to 2 years. Pandas live to about 20 in the wild, but can live to 30 in captivity.
Peculiarities
Females will only show interest in mating for those 2-3 days in the Spring during ovulation. Males will remain sexually active for longer, in order to impregnate more than one female. One very interesting detail about giant panda reproduction is that the female has delayed implantation. Delayed implantation means that a fertilized egg does not immediately implant on the mothers uterine wall, but it "floats" around in the mothers reproductive tract for unknown lengths of time. Because of this, we don't know for sure how long the gestation period of a giant panda is, but that it is somewhere between 95 and 160 days.
Male and Female Differences
The organs and structure of the reproductive system is the same as humans.
Females:
Vagina
Uterus
Fallopian Tubes
Ovaries
Cervix
Males:
Penis
Scrotum
Vas Deferens
Testicles
Urethra