The bear fact is this: The Chinese are getting desperate. You already know they've considered Viagra as a solution to disinterested male pandas, after traditional herbal remedies got them interested in sex with a side effect of domestic violence (as in, they tended to attack their female mates under the influence). Now they're mulling whether to show sex videos to the giant pandas to, er, stir up the pot a bit.
Apparently the Chinese are now turning down a considerable gross of offers from pharmaceutical companies to provide donations of Viagra in favor of showing the bears instructional videos.
"Research has shown that more than 60 percent of mature pandas... have not shown any signs of being aroused," the Beijing Youth Daily reported, referring to one Chinese panda research center's population. "Normal (female) pandas can become pregnant... after mating periods as short as 21 seconds."
"If the pandas are not observed mating, the utmost efforts are made to arouse their natural sexual instincts, such as by showing them 'mating videos,'" said Zhang Hemin, who heads the Wolong panda research center in Sichuan province, according to the paper.
Meanwhile, reports indicate the Wolong center and another in the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu have set up sperm banks for the giant pandas, with half of 20 artificially inseminated so far having given birth.
