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CASE REPORT article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Behavior and Welfare
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1552754
This article is part of the Research Topic Advances in Methods of Biochemical Assessment and Diagnosis of Animal Welfare in Wildlife View all 8 articles
A case study on the relationship between obesity and estrus in female captive panda
Provisionally accepted
Liu Yang 1*
Qiang Zhou 1 Bo Luo 1 Bo Yang 1 Desheng Li 1 Rongping Wei 1 Chunyu Xie 2 Jinhua Yu 2 Xiangqian Meng 3 Jianbin Cheng 1 Ming He 1- 1 China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, Ya'an, Sichuan Province, China
- 2 Shanghai wild animal park, Shanghai, China
- 3 Chengdu Xi'nan Gynecological Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
This study investigated a case of abnormal estrus in a captive adult female giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) (X#, 130 kg) in 2024 to explore the possible relationship between overweight or obesity and estrus behavior in female giant pandas. Behavioral observations and urinary estrogen conjugate/creatinine (EC/CR) measurements revealed a significantly attenuated hormonal profile (peak EC/CR: 34.1 ng/mg vs. normal range 80-150 ng/mg) alongside muted receptivity (e.g., absent tail-lifting). Comparative analysis with historical cases of abnormal estrus (panda 2#: obesity-linked low EC/CR; panda 1#: normal EC/CR with behavioral anomalies) implicated obesity as a driver of reproductive impairment. And several actionable interventions were proposed: bamboo-based dietary reform, structured exercise protocols, and gut microbiota monitoring. This case underscores obesity as a modifiable risk factor in captive panda reproduction, urging integration of metabolic health into breeding management.
Keywords: giant panda, Abnormal Estrus, Obesity, Hormone levels, Reproductive Behavior
Received: 29 Dec 2024; Accepted: 02 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Zhou, Luo, Yang, Li, Wei, Xie, Yu, Meng, Cheng and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Liu Yang, China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, Ya'an, 611800, Sichuan Province, China
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