February 11, 2009 5:08 PM

Porn Not Yet Boosting Panda's Sex Drive

(AP)  Chuang Chuang the panda has been spending his days in front of a big screen television watching panda porn.

Authorities at the Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand hope the images will encourage him to mate with his partner, Lin Hui, and serve as an instructional lesson in how to do it right.

So far, it's been a tough sell, the zoo's chief veterinarian, Kanika Limtrakul, said Tuesday.

"Chuang Chuang seems indifferent to the videos; he has no reaction to what he's seeing on TV," Kanika said. "But, we're continuing to show him videos and hoping they will leave an impression."

Pandas are threatened by loss of habitat, poaching and a low reproduction rate. Females in the wild normally have a cub once every two to three years.

There are as few as 1,600 giant pandas in the mountain forests of central China, according to the zoo. An additional 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and about 20 live in zoos outside China.

Zoo officials say Chuang Chuang will be reunited with his partner in about another week. The two pandas have been kept separate since late last year as part of efforts to spark some romance between them.

Chuang Chuang recently was put on a strict diet because zoo officials said he was too heavy to mate. The diet trimmed him down from 331 pounds to 313 pounds.

Thailand rented 6-year-old Chuang Chuang and 5-year-old Lin Hui from China for $250,000 in October 2003 for 10 years. They are expected to generate millions of dollars in revenue from Thai and foreign tourists.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
  • Scott Conroy

    Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.

Add a Comment See all 13 Comments
by jimibear March 28, 2007 7:15 PM EDT
"Somehow explicit and accessible s3xual content makes the male animal disgusted over time, he begins to view women as gross and tainted, the mating act becomes filthy rather than holy, and avoided for prolonged adolescence."

I'd disagree; I'm no advocate of porn, per se, but I don't think it turns men off women, or that enjoying it is a sign of immaturity. I think what it does, if anything, is to educate people that they don't have to have *** every time they get the urge. There's nothing wrong with "taking matters into your own hands" sometimes, especially if the alternative is more unwanted children because your beliefs forbid birth control.

"Probably what would help the Panda to reproduce would be a meaningful relationship in a wholistic context, that is a meaningful world around him, for Pandas thats a nice bamboo forest."

That was either hopelessly PC, or quite subtly satirical. ;-)

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by tm_bailey March 28, 2007 12:43 PM EDT
Maybe he doesn't like his partner....we think that others are ugly, why can't he?
I know, he's a panda, but still...
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by victoriarum March 28, 2007 10:51 AM EDT
"Fear not the stupidity of idiotic human
language, as they fear thy self in human soul."

God Bless
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by cbville72 March 28, 2007 3:23 AM EDT
They need to find out if he's gay. Instead of porn, they should throw on "Queer eye for the Straight Guy". If he starts watching, then he's definitely a ***. He may have seen a recent picture of Hillary Clinton. That would make anyone not want to have ***.
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by nothappyatall March 28, 2007 2:03 AM EDT
Ok, I volunteer to show him how it's done
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by blackout215 March 28, 2007 1:56 AM EDT
lmao trying to make panda *****
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by sharncedar March 28, 2007 12:06 AM EDT
no surpise - its pretty clear the societies with the least porn have the highest reproductive rates. Catholics, Muslims, repressive asian cultures. Somehow explicit and accessible s3xual content makes the male animal disgusted over time, he begins to view women as gross and tainted, the mating act becomes filthy rather than holy, and avoided for prolonged adolescence.

Probably what would help the Panda to reproduce would be a meaningful relationship in a wholistic context, that is a meaningful world around him, for Pandas thats a nice bamboo forest.

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by rray52 March 27, 2007 10:07 PM EDT
Showing Panda porn to a six year old, Outrageous!!
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by thejameso March 27, 2007 8:29 PM EDT
MAYBE HE IS A GAY PANDA?? HAHAHAHA
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by nolalou March 27, 2007 8:01 PM EDT
so who makes these Panda Porn movies anyhow? Do they have titles like "Ling Ling does Dallas"?
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