Panda Archive

Qiao Mai

荞麦

Qiao Mai is a female giant panda born on 2016-08-09 at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. She is registered under studbook number 1030 in global giant panda population records, and remains alive as of the most recent official documentation. She is the offspring of Qiao Qiao, studbook number 649, and Wu Wu, studbook number 607. Both of her parents are giant pandas born and raised in managed care in Sichuan, China, with well-documented lineage records for conservation breeding programs. Currently living at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, she participates in the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda’s managed breeding and public education initiatives. The base supports giant panda conservation through research, habitat protection advocacy, and captive population management. As a captive-born giant panda, Qiao Mai displays typical foraging behaviors, spending most of her daily activity feeding on bamboo native to southwestern China. She is a popular attraction for domestic and international visitors to the Chengdu base, helping raise public awareness of giant panda conservation. Her participation in managed breeding supports genetic diversity goals for the species, which was downgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to decades of coordinated conservation work in China.