Maternal care in giant pandas

Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are a flagship species for conservation and much of the species’ success is owed to conservation breeding programs. In the winter of 2017, I held an internship with PDXWildlife and collected behavioural data on mother-cub interactions at the Bifengxia base at the Chinese Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Later, as a Research Associate with PDXWildlife, we analyzed an extensive long-term dataset collected over two decades to study reproductive output and postpartum maternal care in this species. We hope our findings add to the increasing evidence that mating under more natural circumstances improves reproductive success in the giant panda.