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A pair of captive giant pandas have successfully bred out of the normal mating cycle in a discovery which could help the endangered animal's recovery.

The annual meeting of the China Giant Panda Breeding Technology Committee has heard of the first ever case of a captive giant panda conceiving and giving birth in autumn after its natural estrus period was artificially delayed.

Zoologists from the Wakayama Zoo in Japan and the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, told the meeting that pandas which failed to breed in spring could be brought back into season in autumn, by regulating their food and changing their environment.

Usually, the estrus period of captive female pandas was in spring, lasting from 15 to 26 days from March to May, while males came into season sometime from January to June, said Yu Jianqiu, a panda expert.

However, while in Japan, a female panda called "Meimei", showed behavior typical of being in estrus in autumn and successfully gave birth to twins last winter after a natural mating with a rutting male panda called "Yongming"

Yu said the situation occurred because the pandas' living environment had been transferred from China to Japan.

Giant pandas are one of the world's oldest and most famous endangered species. It is estimated that only about 1,000 still live in the wild. Most of them live in the mountains around the Sichuan Basin of southwest China.

The annual meeting of the China Panda Breeding Technology Committee, which was held in Chengdu, was attended by more than 80 experts from China, Britain, the United States, Hong Kong and Japan.