A veterinarian holds the newborn of female panda Lin Hui at Chiang Mai Zoo, north of Bangkok, on June 2 (XINHUA/REUTERS)

Chinese experts plan to take the semen of giant panda Chuang Chuang to China next year for breeding after the successful artificial insemination of partner Lin Hui, which resulted in the birth of a cub, the Bangkok Post's website reported Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, May 27, Lin Hui, the female panda in the Chiang Mai Zoo in the Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai, delivered her first baby, which has become the first panda born in Thailand and the world for 2009.

More experts from China would come to Thailand next year to take some of Chuang Chuang's sperm to the panda research center in China for use in future artificial insemination programs, said Wei Ming, Chinese panda expert, the Bangkok Post reported.

Ming arrived at the Chiang Mai Zoo shortly after the birth of the cub to supervise Thai staff to take care of the new panda cub.

"It is good semen," as the successful impregnation in Thailand showed Chuang Chuang's sperm is strong and adequate for use in artificial insemination outside the breeding season, Prasertsak Boontrakulpoonthawee, chief of the panda research project at the Chiang Mai Zoo, quoted Wei Ming as saying.

"We plan to let them mate naturally and carry out artificial insemination again during 2011 and 2012," Prasertsak said.

It is discovered that the newly-born baby panda has superb physical development, Wei Ming said earlier.

The eight-day-old baby panda is now increasingly getting black hair around its ears, front and back legs.

Also, the black patches are forming around its eyes. With an 18-centimeter-physical length, it weighted 290 grams on Tuesday.

Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang, the father of the newly-born baby panda, have been on loan from China to the Chiang Mai Zoo since 2003, as part of a panda research program.

The loan agreement will see the two pandas returned to China after 10 years, while any cub will be returned to China after two years of its birth.

On February 18, 2009, Lin Hui was impregnated with artificial insemination after all efforts to arouse male Chuang Chuang's interest in mating had failed.

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2009)