Male bears ... give birth

A panda is still thought to be a male and was sent to Japan to breed with another female bear, eventually giving birth to two cubs earlier this week.

Jinzhu bears two female bears on August 6 at the Wolong Nature Reserve in the mountainous area southeast of Sichuan Province, after 11 years of being declared a " macho " when born in 1996. .

" Jinzhu is considered male based on its sexual characteristics and behavior ," said Wei Rongping, assistant director of the conservation area Wei Rongping.Jinzhu was sent to Japan in 2000 to breed with another female bear.

"You" bear or "sister" bear?
(Photo: Physorg)

"When these bears showed no interest in each other, the experts decided to artificially fertilize it. Only then did they discover that Jinzhu had no male sexual organs."

Jinzhu was returned to China in 2002 with controversy that the animal was either " androgynous " or had a non-developed genitalia. "The 'that' of an adult panda is only about 3 cm long, so it's easy to cause confusion , " Li Deshen explained.

It was not until 2005 that scientists discovered that 9-year-old Jinzhu's ovaries were in the wrong position and operated on to return to being a normal " young girl ". Jinzhu finally had sex with a male bear in March 2007 and gave birth to two bears 142 days later.

Large pandas are one of the world's most endangered species and are found only in China. It is estimated that about 1,600 live in natural reserves in China's Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.

MT