Two chunky pandas, a male and a female, are due to arrive from China this week at the National Zoo in Washington. If everything goes as planned, they will eventually have cubs.

两只胖乎乎的大熊猫——一雄一雌——将于本周从中国抵达华盛顿国立动物园。如果一切按计划进行，他们最终会产下幼崽。

Exchanges like this have helped turn giant pandas into the face of conservation worldwide.

像这样的交流帮助大熊猫成为全球动物保护的代言者。

The panda program was created with the stated goal of saving a beloved endangered species. Zoos would pay up to $1.1 million a year per pair, which would help China preserve the pandas’ habitat. By following carefully crafted breeding recommendations, zoos would help improve the genetic diversity of the species.

大熊猫计划是为了拯救一个受人喜爱的濒危物种。动物园每年为一对大熊猫支付的费用可达110万美元，这笔钱可以帮助中国来保护大熊猫的栖息地。通过人工繁殖，动物园将有助于改善物种的遗传多样性。

And someday, China would release pandas into the wild.

有朝一日，中国会把大熊猫都放归野外。

But a New York Times investigation, based on more than 10,000 pages of documents, has found that the Chinese authorities and American zoos have put a rosy sheen on a program that has struggled, and often failed, to meet those objectives. The records, photographs and videos — many of them from the Smithsonian Institution Archives — offer a detailed, unvarnished history of the program.

但《纽约时报》基于对1万多页文件进行的调查发现，项目在实现这些目标的过程中困难重重，且常以失败告终，而中国官方和美国动物园对此进行了粉饰。这些记录、照片和视频——其中许多来自史密森尼学会档案馆——提供了该计划详尽、真实的历史。

They show that, from the beginning, zoos saw panda cubs as a pathway to visitors, prestige and merchandise sales.

它们表明，从一开始，动物园就把熊猫幼崽视为吸引游客、提高声望和销售商品的途径。

On that, they have succeeded.

在这一点上，它们取得了成功。

Today, China has removed more pandas from the wild than it has freed, The Times found. No cubs born in American or European zoos, or their offspring, have ever been released. The number of wild pandas remains a mystery because the Chinese government’s count is widely seen as flawed and politicized.

时报发现，如今，被中国带离野外的大熊猫数量超过了放归的数量。在美国或欧洲动物园出生的幼崽及其后代从未被放归。野生大熊猫的数量仍然是一个谜，因为中国政府的统计被广泛视为有缺陷和政治化的。

Along the way, individual pandas have been hurt.

在这个过程中，个别大熊猫受到了伤害。

Because pandas are notoriously fickle about mating in captivity, scientists have turned to artificial breeding. That has killed at least one panda, burned the rectum of another and caused vomiting and injuries in others, records show. Some animals were partly awake for painful procedures. Pandas in China have flickered in and out of consciousness as they were anesthetized and inseminated as many as six times in five days, far more often than experts recommend.

由于圈养大熊猫在交配方面出了名地反复无常，科学家们转向了人工繁殖。记录显示，这已导致至少一只大熊猫死亡，一只大熊猫的直肠被烧伤，还有一些大熊猫呕吐和受伤。一些动物在进行痛苦的手术时部分处于清醒状态。中国的一些大熊猫在时而清醒时而不清醒的状态下，五天内遭到多达六次的麻醉和授精，这远远超过了专家建议的频率。

Breeding in American zoos has done little to improve genetic diversity, experts say, because China typically sends abroad animals whose genes are already well represented in the population.

专家表示，美国动物园的繁殖在改善遗传多样性方面收效甚微，因为中国通常会送出那些基因已经在种群中得到充分体现的动物。

Yet American zoos clamor for pandas, and China eagerly provides them. Zoos get attention and attendance. Chinese breeders get cash bonuses for every cub, records show. At the turn of the century, 126 pandas lived in captivity. Today there are more than 700.

然而，美国动物园对大熊猫趋之若鹜，中国也踊跃地提供。动物园得到关注和客流。记录显示，中国的繁殖者每繁殖一只幼崽都能获得现金奖励。在世纪之交，有126只大熊猫被圈养。如今有700多只。

2022年，中国成都大熊猫繁育研究基地，熊猫饲养员抱着幼崽。

Kati Loeffler, a veterinarian, worked at a panda breeding center in Chengdu, China, during the program’s early years. “I remember standing there with the cicadas screaming in the bamboo,” she said. “I realized, ‘Oh my God, my job here is to turn the well-being and conservation of pandas into financial gain.’”

卡蒂·洛夫勒是一名在该项目实施早期曾在中国成都大熊猫繁育研究基地工作的兽医。“我记得我站在那儿，蝉在竹林里尖叫，”她说。“我意识到，哦，天哪，我在这里的工作就是把大熊猫的福祉和保护转化为经济利益。”

Dr. Loeffler, who spent part of her time in Chengdu as a scholar affiliated with the National Zoo in Washington, said that scientists there used anesthesia excessively and sloppily. At one point, she said, she bucked protocol and jumped onto an examination table to cradle an animal as it was being anesthetized.

洛夫勒曾作为华盛顿国立动物园的学者在成都待过一段时间。她说，那里的科学家过度而草率地使用麻醉。她说，有一次，她不顾规程，跳到检查台上，抱起一只正在麻醉的动物。

Kimberly Terrell, who was director of conservation at the Memphis Zoo until 2017, said, “There was always pressure and the implication that cubs would bring money.” She noted that zoo administrators insisted on inseminating its aging female panda every year, despite concerns among zookeepers that it was unlikely to succeed. It never did.

在孟菲斯动物园任保育主任至2017年的金伯利·特雷尔说，“始终有一种压力和暗示，就是幼崽能生钱。”她指出，尽管有管理员担心不太可能成功，园方仍坚持每年对年迈的雌性大熊猫进行人工授精。这从未成功过。

“The people who actually worked day to day with these animals, who understand them best, were pretty opposed to these procedures,” she said. The zoo said its breeding efforts followed all program requirements. (Dr. Terrell, now a scientist at Tulane University in Louisiana, settled an unrelated gender discrimination lawsuit against the zoo in 2018.)

“那些每天和这些动物一起工作的人，最了解它们的人，非常反对这些手术，”她说。该动物园表示，其繁殖工作遵循了联邦指导方针。（特雷尔现在是路易斯安那杜兰大学的一名科学家，她在2018年就一起与本文所涉内容无关的性别歧视诉讼与该动物园达成了和解。）

The Times collected key documents and audiovisual materials from the Smithsonian archives and supplemented them with materials obtained through open-records requests. The trove, which spans four decades, includes medical records, scientists’ field notes and photographs and videos that offer crucial evidence of breeding procedures, side effects and the conditions in which pandas were held.

《纽约时报》从史密森尼档案馆收集了关键文件和视听材料，并通过公开记录请求获得了补充材料。这些资料跨越了40年，包括医疗记录、科学家的实地记录、照片和视频，为大熊猫的繁殖过程、副作用和饲养条件提供了重要证据。

They show that the riskiest techniques happened in the program’s infancy, but that aggressive breeding continued at the National Zoo and at other institutions for years. A panda in Japan died during sperm collection in 2010. Chinese breeding centers, until recently, separated cubs from their mothers to make the females go back into heat.

它们表明，虽然最有危险的技术出现在人工繁殖计划刚起步的时候，但这种积极的繁殖做法在国立动物园和其他机构已持续了多年。2010年，日本的一只大熊猫在采精过程中死亡。中国的繁育研究中心曾为了让雌性大熊猫能再次发情，将幼崽与母兽分开，直到近年才有所改变。

Pandas arrived in San Diego this summer, and more will most likely land in San Francisco early next year. There are pandas in a steamy safari park in Indonesia and in an air-conditioned dome in Qatar. So many pandas are in captivity in China that several new tourist attractions are being built.

大熊猫已在今年夏天来到圣地亚哥，很可能还会有大熊猫明年年初来旧金山。印度尼西亚闷热的野生动物园里有大熊猫，卡塔尔一个带空调的圆顶建筑里也有大熊猫。在中国，圈养的大熊猫如此之多，以至于国内正在建造几个新的旅游景点。

2022年，一只中国大熊猫在卡塔尔豪尔市的熊猫公园。熊猫喜欢凉爽的气候，所以这两只熊猫——苏海尔和索拉雅——生活在一个有空调的圆顶建筑里。

This panda proliferation has prompted debates among zoo workers and scientists over whether it is ethical to subject animals to intensive breeding when they have no real prospect of being released into the wild. But those discussions have largely played out privately because researchers and zookeepers said that criticizing the program could hurt their ability to work in the field.

大熊猫数量的激增在动物园工作人员和科学家中引发了争议，在没有真正放归野外的希望时让动物进行频繁的繁殖，这种做法是否合乎伦理？但这种讨论大多在私下进行，因为研究人员和动物园饲养员说，公开批评人工繁殖计划可能会给他们在该领域的工作带来不良影响。

Veterinary medicine is always risky, especially with wild animals. When an animal’s life is in danger, the benefits of intervening outweigh the risks. And when a species is on the verge of extinction, conservationists sometimes make a last-ditch effort to save it.

兽医学总是存在风险的，尤其对象是野生动物时。当动物的生命受到威胁时，人工干预的好处大于风险。当一个物种濒临灭绝时，动物保护者有时会为拯救物种做出最后的努力。

But with pandas, zoo administrators take chances again and again simply to make more cubs, while keeping the grimmest details from the public.

但在熊猫的问题上，动物园的管理者们只是为了生出更多幼崽一次又一次冒险，同时向公众隐瞒最残酷的细节。

At the center of this story is the National Zoo, which is part of the Smithsonian. Pandas have been part of the zoo’s image since 1972, when President Richard M. Nixon traded a pair of musk oxen for two bears after his historic trip to China.

处于本文风口浪尖的是史密森尼学会旗下的国立动物园。自从尼克松总统1972年对中国进行了历史性访问、用一对麝牛换来两只大熊猫后，大熊猫一直是国立动物园形象的一部分。

But the Smithsonian has glossed over the reality of artificial breeding, at times in partnership with the Chinese propaganda apparatus, records show.

但记录显示，史密森尼学会忽视了人工繁殖大熊猫的现实，有时还是与中国宣传机构合作的情况下这样做的。

8月在圣地亚哥动物园，雌性大熊猫鑫宝在媒体预展期间。

American zoos say that keeping and breeding pandas has expanded scientific understanding of the species. “Critical intervention, including conservation breeding, has been necessary for the survival of giant pandas,” the San Diego Zoo said in a statement.

美国的动物园称，对大熊猫的养护与繁育已扩大了人们对这个物种科学上的了解。“关键干预，包括保育繁殖在内的举措，对大熊猫的生存十分必要，”圣地亚哥动物园在一份声明中表示。

Western money and attention have also coincided with China’s expansion of nature reserves and stricter logging rules.

得到西方资金和关注的同时，中国扩大了大熊猫保护区，并制定了更严格的伐木规定。

A National Zoo spokeswoman, Annalisa Meyer, acknowledged that efforts to release pandas into the wild were “still developing,” and she said that the program’s success could not be measured in the number of animals released. She said that pandas in zoos were “insurance against extinction” and that animal safety was a top priority.

国立动物园的发言人安娜丽莎·迈耶承认，将大熊猫重新放归野外的努力“仍在进行中”，并表示计划的成败不能用放归动物的数量来衡量。她说，动物园饲养大熊猫是为“确保避免灭绝”，动物安全是首要问题。

Having pandas in zoos also shows that people around the world love, and want to protect, the species, said Melissa Songer, a Smithsonian conservation biologist.

史密森尼保育生物学家梅丽莎·松厄说，在动物园里饲养大熊猫还表明，全世界的人们都热爱并希望保护这一物种。

Pandas in captivity are stubborn breeders. Females are fertile for, at best, three days a year. Males can be aggressive or incompetent partners.

圈养的大熊猫难以自然繁殖。雌性大熊猫一年可受孕的时间最多只有三天。而雄性大熊猫则可能具有攻击性，或者生育能力低下。

But in one of the program’s great ironies, the quest to save pandas may be making it harder for them to breed.

但人工繁殖计划最有讽刺意味的一个方面是，拯救大熊猫的努力可能会让它们变得更难繁殖。

Records show that zoos have long known that keeping pandas in captivity made it less likely that they would mate. Giant pandas in zoos often have a “loss of normal behaviors resulting in reproductive failure,” the National Zoo wrote in an early research proposal.

记录显示，动物园早就知道，圈养大熊猫会降低它们交配的可能性。国立动物园在一份早期的研究计划书中写道，动物园里的大熊猫通常“不再有正常的行为，导致繁殖失败”。

Heather Bacon, a veterinarian at the University of Central Lancashire, in northwestern England, said humans set the terms. “We choose how they breed. If they don’t want to breed, we make them breed,” said Dr. Bacon, a director of the Bear Care Group, which works closely with zookeepers. “And the justification for that is always, quote-unquote, conservation. Is that a genuine justification?”

位于英格兰西北部的中央兰开夏大学的兽医学家希瑟·培根说，“他们的繁殖方式是由我们决定的。他们不想繁殖，我们就强迫他们繁殖，”她是为动物园提供咨询的熊类养护组织(Bear Care Group)的主任。“而这样做的理由总是所谓的保护。真的是这样吗？”

“Because all we’re doing,” she added, “is producing more pandas to live in captivity and have those same experiences over and over again.”

“因为我们在做的无非就是生产更多大熊猫，“她还说，“让他们在圈养下生活，一遍又一遍经历同样的东西。”

The ‘Sperm Team’

“精子队”

The panda program was supposed to fix abuses.

熊猫项目本应解决虐待问题。

In the 1980s, China sent pandas for short stints to foreign zoos, where they rode bicycles and pushed trollies, like carnival sideshows. Many had been caught in the wild. It took a lawsuit for U.S. regulators to intervene.

中国曾在20世纪80年代将大熊猫送到外国动物园短住，它们在那里骑自行车、推婴儿车，像是在狂欢节上做杂耍表演。这些大熊猫中许多是从野外捕捉的。直到有人提起诉讼后，美国监管部门才介入。

1987年在圣地亚哥表演的熊猫巴斯，2015年她在中国福州的熊猫研究中心度过了35岁生日。她在美国逗留的六个月期间吸引了大约250万游客。

After years of negotiation, American zoos and the Chinese government struck a deal, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a policy in 1998. Zoos could rent pandas for a decade at a time, with the money going toward conservation.

经过多年谈判，美国动物园和中国政府达成了协议，美国鱼类和野生动物管理局于1998年颁布了一项政策。动物园可以租借大熊猫，租期为十年，租金用于保护大熊猫。

American and Chinese scientists also agreed to jointly study panda breeding. The population in captivity showed signs of inbreeding. Artificial insemination efforts had faltered.

美中科学家还同意一起研究大熊猫的繁育。圈养的大熊猫种群已表现出近亲繁殖的迹象。人工授精的努力已遭遇挫折。

So, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, scientists from the National Zoo, San Diego Zoo and other institutions flew to the Chinese province of Sichuan. Archival photographs and records reveal details of trips that have seldom been discussed but that laid the foundation for breeding around the world.

因此，来自美国国立动物园、圣地亚哥动物园和其他机构的科学家们在20世纪90年代末和本世纪初来到了中国的四川省。档案照片和记录揭示的旅行细节很少被公开讨论过，但这些旅行为世界各地的人工繁殖项目打下了基础。

Researchers shot pandas with tranquilizer darts to anesthetize them, then laid them on stretchers or boards. Bundled up against the cold in spartan concrete rooms, scientists collected semen from the males by inserting electrified probes into their rectums.

研究人员用麻醉枪将大熊猫麻醉，然后将它们放在担架或木板上。科学家们在简陋的水泥房间里裹得严严实实，将通电的探针插入雄性大熊猫的直肠，以便收集他们的精液。

They called themselves the “Sperm Team.”

他们称自己为“精子队”。

This technique, called electroejaculation, is commonly used in captive breeding. But the scientists drugged some of the animals with unadulterated ketamine, a powerful sedative that veterinarians typically use in combination with other drugs. Ketamine alone can leave an animal anxious and in pain — and partly awake, as a National Zoo veterinarian acknowledged in a presentation at the time.

这个被称为电击射精的技术通常用在圈养繁殖中。但科学家们给一些动物注射了纯氯胺酮，这是一种强效镇静剂，兽医们通常将其与其他药物结合起来使用。单独使用氯胺酮会使动物产生焦虑和疼痛感，而且处于半清醒状态，正如国立动物园的一名兽医在当时的一次介绍中承认的那样。

Some pandas were “light,” meaning they were insufficiently anesthetized, and apparently struggled.

有些大熊猫处于“轻度”麻醉状态（意思是麻醉不充分），有明显的挣扎。

“Animal was light during entire procedure,” JoGayle Howard, a scientist at the National Zoo, wrote in a journal she kept on a 1999 trip. “Almost came off table at one point (used ketamine only this time instead of ketamine and xylazine).”

“动物在整个过程中处于轻度状态，”国立动物园的科学家乔盖尔·霍华德在1999年一次旅行期间的日记中写道。“有一次差点从操作台上掉下来（这次只用了氯胺酮，而不是氯胺酮和甲苯噻嗪）。”

1999年，北京，一只被关在笼子里的熊猫正在接受麻醉。麻醉枪投药在兽医学中并不罕见，但人工繁殖过程中，这一部分很少被看到或被讨论。

“Great semen sample with high count,” she added.

“精液样本很棒，精子数量高，”她补充写道。

During one collection, Dr. Howard wrote that Chinese scientists had quadrupled the voltage to an unsafe 12 volts.

霍华德写道，在一次采集过程中，中国科学家将电压提高了四倍，达到了不安全的12伏。

“They used dangerously high voltages and too many stimulations on male Ping Ping after we left,” she wrote. “Male had bloody loose stool and no appetite for months.”

“我们离开后，他们对雄性大熊猫‘平平’（音）使用了危险的高电压和太多次的刺激，”她写道。“该雄性后来大便带血且稀软，好几个月没有食欲。”

Experts say that electroejaculation should be done cautiously, with minimal voltage. “You can do quite a lot of harm,” said Thomas Hildebrandt, an expert on artificial breeding in animals at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin.

专家说，电击射精应该谨慎使用，而且要用最低的电压。“电击射精能给动物造成相当大的伤害，”柏林莱布尼茨动物园和野生动物研究所的动物人工授精专家托马斯·希尔德布兰特说。

The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which today owns one-third of the world’s captive pandas, denied ever using excessive voltage or otherwise harming animals. “We have not had any giant pandas suffer health damage or death during surgery due to the use of ketamine,” the center said in a statement.

成都大熊猫繁育研究基地目前拥有全球三分之一的圈养大熊猫，该基地否认曾使用过过高的电压或以其他方式伤害动物。该中心在一份声明中表示：“我们并没有任何一只大熊猫在手术过程中因使用氯胺酮而出现健康受损或死亡的情况。”

Dr. Hildebrandt said that artificial insemination should be done once per cycle, after pinpointing the moment a female is most fertile.

希尔德布兰特表示，人工授精应该在确定了雌性最易受孕的时刻后，每个周期只进行一次。

But Chinese scientists inseminated female pandas repeatedly. In one experiment, they inseminated seven females, sedated with only ketamine, as often as six times per animal in five days, meaning the pandas were in and out of stupors.

但中国的科学家们反复对雌性大熊猫进行人工授精。他们在一项实验中，反复对七只雌性进行授精，仅用了氯胺酮镇静剂，在五天时间里对每只大熊猫最多进行了六次授精，意味着这些大熊猫们频繁地经历麻醉状态。

Notes in the Smithsonian archive show that American scientists accidentally injured one panda’s uterus during an examination. Photographs show pandas vomiting. “Difficult anesthesia,” scientists wrote about a female panda named Lei Lei at a breeding center in Wolong, western China. “Retching and vomiting. Inadequate fasting — food and water. Procedure cut short.”

史密森尼档案室的记录显示，美国科学家在检查过程中意外伤害了一只大熊猫的子宫。照片显示接受人工受精的熊猫出现呕吐。“麻醉困难，”科学家在记录中国西部卧龙繁育中心一只名叫“蕾蕾”（音）的雌性大熊猫的受精过程时写道。“干呕、呕吐。禁食不充分——食物和水。过程中断。”

2000年2月在中国，一只熊猫在进行医疗操作期间处于苏醒状态。尚不清楚这张照片中的熊猫的状况，但这一时期的记录显示，动物在可能十分痛苦的人工繁殖过程中是部分清醒的。

Many of the scientists from that era have retired or died, and the National Zoo said it had no records of pandas in China being injured. It said that scientists had limited knowledge about panda reproduction at the time. Ms. Meyer, the spokeswoman, said this early research period contributed to improved care and a “panda baby boom.”

许多那个时代的科学家已经退休或过世，国立动物园表示，动物园没有中国的大熊猫受伤的记录。该动物园称，总的来说，科学家那时对大熊猫繁殖的了解有限。发言人迈耶表示，这项研究的早期阶段为改善大熊猫照料做出了贡献，带来了一个“大熊猫生育高峰”。

Notes make clear that the scientists did not intend to harm the animals. They believed they were saving the species. In conservation efforts, the welfare of the species often trumps that of individual animals.

笔记清楚地显示，科学家们无意伤害这些动物。他们认为自己是在拯救这个物种。在动物保护工作中，物种的安康往往高于个体动物的福祉。

Dr. Howard became a conservation hero, now memorialized in a Chengdu museum.

霍华德后来成了一名动物保护英雄，成都的一座博物馆现在还在纪念她。

But the scientists set in motion a frenzied push to make pandas that continues today.

但这些科学家们发动了一场疯狂的熊猫繁殖运动，它一直持续到今天。

An Incentive to Breed

对人工繁殖的奖励

For decades, the Chinese zoo association has given $1,400 bonuses to breeding centers and zoos for every cub that lives to six months. Those who make “special achievements” can earn up to $7,050.

数十年来，中国动物园的管理员每繁殖一只活到六个月的大熊猫幼崽，就可获得1万元的奖励。被认为在大熊猫人工繁殖上做出“重大贡献”的人员最高可获得5万元的奖励。

The Chengdu center’s budget last year included targets for pregnancies and cubs.

成都基地去年的预算中包括大熊猫受孕和产崽目标。

9月，四川省都江堰熊猫基地，一只熊猫妈妈和她一岁大的宝宝在围栏内走动。

That creates an incentive to breed animals as quickly as possible.

这是对动物尽快繁殖的激励。

In 2017, Lung Yuan Chih, then a researcher with Tsinghua University in Beijing, visited three Chinese breeding centers for her dissertation. All three did multiple electroejaculations or fertilizations on each panda selected for breeding, said Dr. Lung, who is now a director of the Taiwan Human-Animal Studies Institute.

2017年，当时在清华大学读书的学者龙缘之为撰写博士论文访问了中国的三个大熊猫繁育基地。三个基地对每只选来配种的大熊猫都进行多次的电击射精或人工受精，龙缘之说道。她现在是台湾动物与人学会的理事。

A healthy species has a diverse variety of genes, making it more likely to adapt to illnesses or habitat changes. That is why American scientists helped create detailed recommendations for which pandas should breed.

健康物种的基因有各种多样性，这让物种在发生疾病或栖息地变化时更容易适应。这就是为什么美国的科学家们帮助制定了应该用什么大熊猫进行人工繁殖的详细建议的原因。

Those recommendations were often ignored, records show. Instead, the Chinese centers mainly focused on animals that were easy breeders.

记录显示，这些建议经常被忽视。中国的繁殖基地反而把注意力主要放在容易成功繁殖的动物身上。

Breeding centers also prematurely separated cubs from their mothers.

繁育基地还过早地将幼崽与母兽分开。

In the wild, cubs stay with their mothers for 18 months to two years. During that time, females are unlikely to go into estrus, or heat. To make the mothers fertile again, zookeepers have taken cubs away much earlier.

在野外，幼崽往往与母亲在一起18个月至两年。在这段时间里，雌性大熊猫不太可能再次发情。为了让雌性大熊猫恢复受孕能力，动物园管理员不得不提前将幼崽带走。

“Sometimes the mothers didn’t have any break at all,” said one Chinese former panda keeper who worked on breeding and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal. “They gave birth every year.”

“母兽有时根本得不到休息，”一名曾从事大熊猫人工繁殖的中国饲养员说，因为担心遭到报复，他要求不具名。“它们每年都产崽。”

9月，游客排队进入北京动物园内的熊猫馆。

In the mid 2000s, cubs were moved to nurseries shortly after birth. Later, many were placed with “stepmothers” — essentially panda wet nurses.

2000年代中期，幼崽出生后不久就被转移到育婴室。后来，许多幼崽被安置在“干妈”身边——本质上是大熊猫的奶妈。

Pandas give birth to one or two cubs at a time. Chinese panda enthusiasts who monitor webcam footage documented a female at the Chengdu center in 2017 caring for six cubs.

大熊猫一次产下一只或两只幼崽。观看网络摄像头录像的中国大熊猫爱好者在2017年记录了成都中心的一只雌性大熊猫照顾六只幼崽的场景。

James Ayala, an American behavioral researcher there, said that the center kept cubs with their mothers whenever possible. Stepmothers are used only when mothers reject their cubs, he said. “Now we know that keeping them with the mom is super, super, super essential,” he said.

该中心美国行为研究员詹姆斯·阿亚拉表示，中心尽可能让幼崽与母亲在一起。他说，只有当母亲拒绝幼崽时，才会使用干妈。“现在我们知道让他们和妈妈在一起是非常、非常、非常重要的，”他说。

Dr. Hildebrandt, the artificial breeding expert, said that he had worked with the center and that practices were improving.

人工繁育专家希尔德布兰特表示，他曾与该中心合作过，而且相关操作正在改善。

A Times reporter visited Chengdu last month. The center authorized Mr. Ayala to speak but declined to make administrators, scientists or panda keepers available.

上个月，《纽约时报》一名记者前往成都。该中心允许阿亚拉发言，但拒绝让管理人员、科学家或大熊猫饲养员在场。

During the interview, staff members and local propaganda officials repeatedly interjected to flag topics that were off-limits. Those included the release of pandas into the wild and artificial insemination.

在采访过程中，繁殖中心和当地宣传部门的工作人员多次打断，表示一些话题是禁区。其中包括人工授精和与美国动物园的合作。

In a recent article titled, “‘Electrocution’ of Giant Pandas! Can It Be True?” the zoo says that artificial breeding is harmless.

在近期一篇题为《耸人听闻的“电击“大熊猫，是真的吗？》的文章中，该动物园表示人工授精是无害的。

Don’t Make Money

别赚钱

When they are old enough, pairs of Chinese pandas are eligible to be rented.

中国大熊猫在达到一定年龄后就可以成对出租出去。

Under the policy governing the rental program, zoos may not profit from pandas.

根据租借项目的相关政策，动物园不得利用大熊猫牟利。

But records show that, even as the program details were being hashed out, money was at the center of the discussion.

但记录显示，即使在制定计划细节时，钱也是讨论的中心。

In 1993, zoo representatives from the United States and Europe gathered at the National Zoo to strategize.

1993年，来自美国和欧洲的动物园代表齐聚美国国立动物园会商策略。

The notes from that meeting are full of typos, but they show that zoo administrators were not interested in only displaying a rare species. They wanted cubs, referring to the agreements as “breeding loans.”

那次会议的记录虽然错字连篇，但却表明动物园的管理者们并不满足于仅仅展示一种珍稀物种。他们想要幼崽，将协议称为“繁殖租借”。

美国国立动物园提供的一段视频显示分娩后的美香，视频拍摄于2020年。

“Old males,” said a National Zoo scientist at the meeting, are not “going to bring in as much money as a breeding pair.”

国立动物园的一位科学家在会上说，“老年雄性无法像一对繁殖期的雌性和雄性那样带来那么多收入。”

Some attendees acknowledged that shipping pandas around the world did little to protect them. “If we were truly interested in the conservaitonof of the panda,” the notes read, “then we would contribute to them insitu [in the wild] and nont take them out.”

有些与会者承认，将大熊猫运往世界各地对保护它们几乎没有帮助：“如果我们真的想保护大熊猫，那么我们就会在原生地（的野外）保护它们，而不是把它们运走，”记录写道。

Today, American zoos must submit audits of their panda-related revenue to the Fish and Wildlife Service to prove that they are not profiting. Pandas are expensive. Beyond rent to China, zoos also have to build sophisticated enclosures and buy tons of bamboo.

如今，美国的动物园必须向鱼类和野生动物管理局提交与大熊猫相关的收入审计，以证明它们没有盈利。大熊猫的成本很高。除了付给中国租金，动物园还必须建造复杂的围栏，并购买成吨的竹子。

But pandas attract big donors.

但大熊猫吸引了大量的捐赠者。

In 1999, before its last pandas arrived, the National Zoo launched a $13 million fund-raising campaign, which included $10.5 million for what it called an “education center.”

1999年，在最后一只大熊猫到来之前，国立动物园发起了一项1300万美元的筹款活动，其中1050万美元用于它所称的“教育中心”。

An internal document from that period advised employees to deflect a journalist’s questions about the project’s planned gift shop, restaurant, special events area and fund-raising offices. The building is the zoo’s “investment in the future of wildlife on Earth,” the document reads. “So that’s why we want to build the ed facility!”

那个时期的一份内部文件建议员工回避一名记者关于该项目计划中的礼品店、餐厅、特别活动区和筹款办公室的问题。那座建筑是动物园“对地球野生动物未来的投资”，文件写道。“这就是我们想要建造教育设施的原因！”

今年5月，在宣布中国将于今年秋天向美国运送两只熊猫幼崽后，国立动物园搭建了一个熊猫家谱。

The zoo, a nonprofit, does not charge for admission. But documents show that it saw pandas as a way to “form strong collaborations with area businesses.”

这家非营利性的动物园不收门票。但文件显示，它将大熊猫视为“与当地企业形成强有力合作”的一种方式。

It brokered panda sponsorship deals with Fujifilm and Animal Planet; worked with local hotels to create packages that included zoo donations; and sourced panda mouse pads, golf balls and shot glasses for the gift shops.

该动物园与富士胶片(Fujifilm)和动物星球(Animal Planet)达成了大熊猫赞助协议，与当地酒店合作推出了包括动物园捐赠在内的套餐，并为礼品店采购了大熊猫鼠标垫、高尔夫球和玻璃杯。

Within months of the pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arriving, one million visitors had come through the gates.

大熊猫美香和添添抵达后的几个月内就有100万游客来到这里。

But the pandas struggled.

但大熊猫们却面临困难。

Scientists have consistently observed panda “stereotypies,” or behaviors associated with captivity. San Diego Zoo scientists studied 47 captive pandas around the world and, in documents submitted to regulators, said that nearly two-thirds did things like “pacing, head tossing, pirouetting and stereotypic cage climbing.”

科学家一致观察到了大熊猫存在圈养相关的“规癖”或行为。圣地亚哥动物园的科学家对世界各地的47只圈养大熊猫进行的一项未发表研究发现，至少三分之一的大熊猫存在“踱步、甩头、后足站立旋转和规癖性的兽笼攀爬”。

Conditions in China during those early years may have made things worse. A San Diego scientist wrote to a National Zoo panda keeper that pandas often had problems arising from what he called their “jail cell” stint in “clearly substandard housing.”

中国早年的条件可能导致情况愈发恶化。一位圣地亚哥科学家在写给一位国立动物园大熊猫管理员的信中说，大熊猫时常会有他称为“囚禁期”导致的问题，也就是“居住在明显不达标的环境里”。

美香和添添2000年在四川第一次见面。这张罕见的照片让我们得以深入了解被一位圣地亚哥动物园科学家称为“囚室”的中国大熊猫圈养条件。2000年，大熊猫美香被从位于四川卧龙的中国大熊猫保护研究中心带出，准备运往华盛顿的国立动物园。

For Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the weather was a challenge. Pandas prefer a cool mountain climate, and by April 2001, the pair languished in the Washington heat.

对美香和添添来说，天气是一个挑战。大熊猫喜欢凉爽的山区气候，而到了2001年4月，他们已经在华盛顿的酷暑中变得无精打采。

“Panting,” clinical notes read again and again. The zoo resorted to ice blocks, hosing and air-conditioning. A spokeswoman said that the zoo follows temperature and weather guidelines.

病例上不断出现“气促”这个词。园方采用了冰块、喷水和空调。动物园发言人说，园方遵循了有关温度和天气的指南。

Mei Xiang had irregular stools after being overfed during behind-the-scenes tours, a keeper wrote. When the zoo threw her a party to celebrate her millionth visitor, she slept through it.

一位管理员说，美香在一次不开放巡展期间被过量喂食，导致排便失常。当动物园为庆祝她接待了第一百万名游客而举办派对时，她全程都在睡觉。

Difficult Breeding

艰难的繁殖

As mates, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were not a great match.

美香和添添并不是一对合适的配偶。

“Tian Tian violently attacked Mei Xiang,” a veterinarian wrote in 2002, after an early mating encounter. Later mating attempts failed.

“添添粗暴攻击了美香，”一位兽医在2002年一次早期交配后写道。此后的交配尝试都未能成功。

So staff intervened. Mei Xiang gave birth in 2005 after a single round of artificial insemination.

于是工作人员介入了。美香在接受一轮人工授精后于2005年产下幼崽。

Subsequent conceptions proved elusive. Scientists began packing multiple procedures into Mei Xiang’s brief fertile window.

在那之后，受孕变得难以捉摸起来。科学家们开始在美香短暂的繁育窗口期内加入多项手术。

Under federal policy, zoos cannot breed pandas simply to make cubs. Zoo notes from that period show that staff were repeatedly reminded that breeding was about science, not cubs.

根据联邦政策，动物园不能仅仅出于获得幼崽的目的进行大熊猫繁育。那个时期的动物园记录显示，工作人员不断被提醒，繁育是出于科学目的，不是为了生崽。

Administrators tracked the efforts.

管理者对相关努力进行了跟踪记录。

“Unfortunately, this was the fourth year in a row that Mei Xiang has not been able to conceive,” the director reported to the zoo’s advisory board in 2010.

“不幸的是，美香已经连续四年无法受孕，”园长在2010年给动物园顾问委员会的报告中说。

The following year was particularly difficult. Mei Xiang vomited after her first insemination. When staff anesthetized her for the second, about 24 hours later, the dart did not fully discharge. Mei Xiang was darted four times that day, leading to a rough recovery.

接下来一年格外困难。美香在第一次人工授精后出现呕吐。约24小时后，工作人员就着手对她进行第二次麻醉，药物未能充分施放。美香那天被扎了四针，导致后来的康复过程十分艰难。

Ms. Meyer, the National Zoo spokeswoman, said that breeding was closely monitored and followed protocol.

国立动物园发言人迈耶说，繁育过程得到了密切监控，并遵守了相关规定。

In 2011, the zoo announced that if Mei Xiang failed to produce a cub the next year, it might send her back to China.

2011年，园方宣布如果美香明年仍无法产崽，就将被送回中国。

2005年8月1日，在华盛顿的史密森尼国立动物园，三周大的大熊猫幼崽和妈妈美香正在打盹。2021年，在华盛顿的国立动物园，熊猫宝宝小奇迹和妈妈美香一起庆祝他的第一个生日。

Mei Xiang ultimately produced four surviving cubs after at least 21 rounds of artificial insemination. Few of the details were made public, and the Smithsonian has refused to release some information about them through an open-records request.

美香最终在经过至少21次人工授精后产下了四只存活的幼崽。有关详情甚少为公众所知，史密森尼方面在收到一项公开记录要求后拒绝公布部分信息。

Years later, in 2022, the Smithsonian Channel made a film about her last cub, “The Miracle Panda,” with a company that is part of China’s propaganda apparatus. It presented artificial breeding as quick, effective and minimally invasive.

多年后的2022年，史密森尼频道与一家隶属于中国宣传部门的公司合作，制作了关于她的最后一只幼崽的影片《奇迹大熊猫》(The Miracle Panda)。片中介绍人工繁育是一种快捷、有效且侵入性极低的手段。

The zoo spokeswoman said that filmmakers who needed access to China were required to work with certain production companies. The Smithsonian reviewed the film for “scientific accuracy,” she said.

动物园发言人说，要想得到在中国拍摄的资格，摄制方需要与特定的制作公司合作。史密森尼对影片的“科学准确性”进行了审核，她说。

Almost immediately after each birth, money poured in.

每一次产崽，几乎总是能立刻带来一大笔钱。

“Overall merchandise sales have increased dramatically,” reads a 2006 document from the zoo’s fund-raising partner.

“周边产品的总销量有大幅增长，”动物园的筹款合作伙伴在2006年的一份文件中写道。

“Funds much zoo operations, research, education programming,” an employee scrawled on a notepad.

“给许多动物园运转、研究、教育项目提供了资金，”一位动物园雇员在笔记本上写道。

Visitor totals shot up and by 2010, records show, nine out of the 10 best-selling items were panda-related.

访客数量直线上升，到了2010年，记录显示，销量排在前10的周边中，有九种产品与大熊猫有关。

Experts say that China typically keeps its most genetically valuable animals in the country. At one point, records show, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang had “the lowest rating” as a pair.

专家称，中国通常把最有遗传价值的动物留在国内。有一处记录显示，添添和美香作为配偶得到了“最低评分”。

The zoo says that their cubs are healthy and genetically important. “They are part of the breeding program” in China, said Pierre Comizzoli, a Smithsonian reproductive expert who led many of the inseminations. “So this is extremely important.”

园方称他们的幼崽身体健康，且极具遗传价值。他们属于中国的“繁育项目的一部分”，主持多项人工授精操作的史密森尼繁殖专家皮埃尔·康米佐里说。“因此这是极为重要的。”

At one point, though, records show that experts discussed using a private jet to fly sperm from a panda in San Diego that was a “much more appropriate” genetic match.

不过，有一处记录显示，专家曾讨论用私人飞机空运圣地亚哥一只大熊猫的精液，因为那只大熊猫的基因“适配性好得多”。

“Scientifically, these animals are not important to the population,” Mads Frost Bertelsen, the zoological director at the Copenhagen Zoo, said of the pandas sent overseas. His zoo has pandas, but has not used artificial insemination, he said. “The only reason to do it right now would be a financial one. We would get more revenue if we had cubs.”

“科学上讲，这些动物对种群的意义不大，”哥本哈根动物园动物学主任马兹·弗罗斯特·伯特尔森在谈及送往海外的大熊猫时说。他的动物园有大熊猫，但是没有使用人工授精。“现在去做这事，只能是出于财务的原因。如果我们有幼崽，我们的收入会增加。”

Pandas in the Wild

野外大熊猫

One of the great hopes of the panda program was that someday, animals bred in captivity would be freed to repopulate the wild, like the creatures on Noah’s Ark.

对大熊猫项目的一大期待是，有朝一日这些圈养动物能放归野外生活，就像诺亚方舟上的那些生物。

Ten pandas have successfully been released, a number that is touted by China’s national forestry bureau. But nearly as many have died in the process, The Times found in an analysis of news reports. Two died in the wild from attack or infection and another six died in a prerelease program.

成功放归的大熊猫有10只，这是中国国家林草局大肆宣传的数字。但《纽约时报》在分析新闻报道后发现，在此过程中死亡的大熊猫几乎也有这么多。其中两只死于野外袭击或感染，至少还有六只在准备放归期间死亡。

Since 1995, more pandas have been removed from the wild than have been released, The Times found. Forestry workers said they collected pandas that were injured or abandoned. But once in captivity, many pandas were added to the breeding program, according to records.

《纽约时报》发现，自1995年以来，从野外移走的大熊猫数量多于放归的大熊猫数量。林草局员工表示，他们将受伤或被遗弃的大熊猫带回圈养。但记录显示，一旦被圈养，许多大熊猫就会被加入繁殖计划。

The Times counted over a dozen wild pandas that remained in captivity for the rest of their lives, and a dozen more that remain there today. In 2018, China tried to address this by requiring that newly caught animals be released once they have recovered.

《纽约时报》统计，有十多只野生大熊猫终生被圈养，还有十多只至今仍在基地。2018年，中国试图解决这个问题，要求新捕获的动物在康复后必须放生。

The forestry bureau did not answer a list of questions but said that The Times “distorted the reality of giant panda protection and management in China.” The bureau did not respond to a request to elaborate.

林草局没有回答一系列问题，但表示《纽约时报》“歪曲了中国大熊猫保护管理的实际情况”。该机构没有回应进一步说明的请求。

Pandas who spend most of their lives in overseas zoos are never freed. Neither are their foreign-born cubs.

大部分时间生活在海外的大熊猫从未被放归野外。他们在国外产下的后代也没有。

When Mei Xiang’s first cub went to China in 2010, the National Zoo braced for questions. “What would be future of Mei and Tian if they go back?” a communications department document reads.

美香的第一只幼崽于2010年被送往中国，当时国立动物园有一个迫切的疑问。“美香和天天回去后会是什么情况，”一份部门文件记录的通信中说。

“Where would they go and what would happen to them?” the document continues. “NEED RESPONSE.”

“他们会被送到哪里，会怎么对他们？”这份通信中写道，“亟待解答。”

Last year, they got their answer when the pair returned to China with their offspring Xiao Qi Ji.

他们的问题在去年得到了回答，两只大熊猫和他们的后代“小奇迹”一起回到了中国。

The parents went to a “retirement” area at a panda center in Sichuan. With the pandas out of view, rumors swirled about their treatment.

父母将被送往四川一座大熊猫中心的“退休”区。从公众视野中消失后，开始出现有关他们的待遇的传闻。

The center reassured panda fans that they were thriving.

大熊猫中心向粉丝们保证，他们过得很好。

“The online rumors about the panda center hiding and abusing three giant pandas are seriously untrue,” the center posted on the social media platform Weibo in May. “Strictly adhere to the truth, reject rumors, respect facts, and distinguish right from wrong!”

“网络上关于熊猫中心藏匿、虐待三只大熊猫的言论严重失实，”中心5月在微博上说。“严守真相，拒绝谣言，尊重事实，明辨黑白！”

2023年，弗吉尼亚州杜勒斯的杜勒斯国际机场，一个装着大熊猫美香的箱子。她现在被圈养在中国。