In spring 1999, after attempts to mate the two had failed, researchers artificially inseminated the female giant panda, Bai Yun , using semen collected from the male panda, Shi Shi. In August 1999, Bai Yun gave birth to Hua Mei , the first giant panda born in North America in 10 years.
Giant pandas are critically endangered in the wild.
It is estimated that less than 1,000 exist today . Paternity determination is greatly needed in order to analyze the number of founder genes present in the captive population and to assess the success of natural vs. artificial matings. Research fellow Yaping Zhang has devoted many hours to investigating the genetic differences within the giant panda population and constructing a genomic library for the species. Working with the Fuzhou Breeding Center and the Chengdu Breeding Center in China, we are attempting to assess the hormonal differences between fertile and non-fertile pandas.