SANDHAUS, E.A.*; BLOOMSMITH, M.A.; SNYDER, R.J.; MARR, M.J.; HUANG, X.M.; MAPLE, T.L.: Intraspecific Aggression Among Socially Housed Female Giant Pandas

With the wild population of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in serious danger of extinction, it has become increasingly important to establish a self-sustaining captive population. However, both male and female captive giant pandas exhibit behavioral problems that hinder the development of a self-sustaining captive population. The identification of these problems is essential to the success of captive breeding programs. Wild giant pandas are generally considered to be solitary animals; close contact occurs only when a dam raises her cubs and during mating seasons. Thus, it is possible that, in captivity, social housing of adult giant pandas may result in undesirable levels of aggression. At the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, females are traditionally housed in pairs. Intraspecific aggression has been observed in these animals, particularly when food is provisioned. We examined the occurrence of female-female aggressive interactions within three female pairs to examine frequency, context, and intensity of these interactions. Furthermore, we examined social proximities to determine under which contexts (e.g. feeding vs. nonfeeding) the females maintained particular distances from their exhibit-mates. Approximately 40 hours of behavioral data were collected over a 3-week time period. These data provide a framework for future investigations of behavioral and hormonal aspects of female-female aggression in captive giant pandas, and may provide a basis for the modification of housing strategies for these critically endangered animals.