VIDEO: Brown panda does his exercises in Chinese breeding camp

The world’s only captive brown giant panda, Qizai has been taking more exercise in preparation for the upcoming breeding season.

Footage from the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center in northwest China‘s Shaanxi Province shows Qizai being enticed to stand up by keepers who have placed food on the end of a stick which they hold just out of his reach.

Physical training for captive pandas is usually carried out twice a day prior to the breeding season.

Panda experts believe that by strengthening the giant animal’s legs will improve his stamina and ability to breed successfully.  

Qi Zai lives at the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province

The world's first brown panda was discovered in 1985 in the Qinling Mountains. All recorded photographs of wild brown pandas were taken in the area

The world’s first brown panda was discovered in 1985 in the Qinling Mountains. All recorded photographs of wild brown pandas were taken in the area

The Qinling giant panda is a subspecies of giant panda first recognised in 2005. As well as its brown and white fur it has a smaller and rounder skull and shorter snout than the more familiar Sichuan subspecies

The Qinling giant panda is a subspecies of giant panda first recognised in 2005. As well as its brown and white fur it has a smaller and rounder skull and shorter snout than the more familiar Sichuan subspecies 

Female pandas are in heat approximately once a year and only for a few hours. 

It is hoped Qizai will be in position to perform when he is called to action. 

The world’s first brown panda was discovered in 1985 in the Qinling Mountains. All recorded photographs of wild brown pandas were taken in the area.

The Qinling giant panda is a subspecies of giant panda first recognised in 2005. As well as its brown and white fur, it has a smaller and rounder skull and a shorter snout than the more familiar Sichuan subspecies.

In March 2020, Qi Zai was partnered up with six-year-old female bear An An after the latter showed signs of coming into heat.

Qi Zai, about 33 in human years, is the only brown-and-white panda in captivity in the world and his unique coat has left experts baffled for years.

The mating session could mean that scientists are now one step closer to decoding Qiai’s fur colour.

Staff at China’s Qinling Giant Panda Research Centre, where Qi Zai lives, detected in mid-March that An An had entered oestrus.

A female panda is only on heat once a year for about 48 hours, making it hard for keepers to arrange mating or artificial insemination.

On St Patrick’s Day in 2020, keepers tried to pair An An with different male pandas.

They put Qi Zai and An An in the same cage hoping they could mate. The bears lived up to their expectation.

Workers arranged another male panda, Er Lang, to mate with An An. They also mated without human intervention. 

Researchers have tried to match Qi Zai with other female pandas in the past.

They are keen to see what colour Qi Zai’s cub would be to understand what has given Qi Zai his special appearance.

Both Qi Zai and Er Lang are native to the Qinling Mountains in north-western China’s Shaanxi Province.

Qinling pandas are considered a different sub-species from those found in other mountain ranges, mainly in the province of Sichuan.

'It is suspected that the brown and white colouring of pandas has a genetic basis, possible a result of a double recessive gene, a combination of genes or a dilution factor gene,' said Katherine Feng, an American vet and member of the International League of Conservation Photographers

‘It is suspected that the brown and white colouring of pandas has a genetic basis, possible a result of a double recessive gene, a combination of genes or a dilution factor gene,’ said Katherine Feng, an American vet and member of the International League of Conservation Photographers

Panda experts believe that exercising ahead of breeding season enhances the animal's stamina

Panda experts believe that exercising ahead of breeding season enhances the animal’s stamina

Researchers believed his mother had abandoned him and disappeared into the jungle

Researchers believed his mother had abandoned him and disappeared into the jungle

‘It is suspected that the brown and white colouring of pandas has a genetic basis, possible a result of a double recessive gene, a combination of genes or a dilution factor gene,’ said Katherine Feng, an American vet and member of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

‘Qi Zai’s mother was black and white,’ added Feng who had the opportunities to take photos of Qi Zai in 2015.

Qi Zai, whose name means the seventh son, was found as a two-month-old cub, weak and alone, by researchers in a nature reserve in Qinling Mountains.

Researchers believed his mother had abandoned him and disappeared into the jungle.

For his safety, the researchers took him to the nearby Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue, Breeding and Research Centre where he was given medical treatment and fed on panda milk saved by the centre’s staff from other pandas.

His keeper He Xin previously told MailOnline when Qi Zai was a cub, he was bullied by other pandas who would eat his bamboo.

As for Qi Zai’s white and brown coat, it could be due to a gene mutation, said Mr He.

Despite a rough ‘childhood’, Qi Zai has since grown into the fine, eye-catching specimen he is today.

Qi Zai was described as ‘strong’, ‘active’ and ‘full of energy’ by the centre in 2018 when scientists arranged him to mate with an 18-year-old female panda, Zhu Zhu, to find out what gives him his special coat.

The mating did not result in any pregnancy.

There are 1,864 wild pandas in the wild, according to World Wildlife.

They live mainly in bamboo forests high in the mountains of south-west China, mostly in Sichuan province, but they can also be found in Shaanxi province, where Qi Zai is from.

Where do brown pandas live?

Qizai (pictured) is the only brown-and-white panda in captivity in the world

Qizai (pictured) is the only brown-and-white panda in captivity in the world

China’s Shaanxi Province is the only place in the world where brown-and-white giant pandas have been spotted.

Only 10 sightings of brown pandas have been recorded, and all of them took place in the central Qinling Mountains.

Qizai, whose name means the ‘seventh son’, was rescued as a cub at two months old in the wild after apparently being abandoned by his mother.

He was previously thought to be the only living brown panda in the world until a wild panda with the same colour pattern was spotted roaming in a nature reserve in Shaanxi in March, 2018.

The Qinling Mountain pandas are considered a different sub-species from the pandas found in other mountain ranges – namely in south-west China’s Sichuan Province and north-west China’s Gansu Province.

A new panda research base, Qinling Giant Panda Research Centre, was established in 2018 to study pandas from the Qinling Mountains.

Based in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, the centre’s main goal is to decode brown pandas’ special hair colour.