A red panda in the Darjeeling zoo. File picture Darjeeling, July 24: John has just fathered two lovely red pandas in Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park and has more than one reason to feel proud, having fought off 11 other males to catch the attention of Sheetal, one of only two reproductive females in the zoo. The skewed sex ratio among the pandas is now beginning to worry the zoo authorities. "We have 15 pandas out of which 12 are males. We are not sure of the gender of the new ones as they were born as recently as July 6,' said A.K. Jha, the director of the zoo. Jha admitted that for any animal, it was "desirable' to have an equal sex ratio. "So far there have been no reports of any unnatural behavioural tendencies being shown by the pandas. Even then, it is desirable to have an equal share of both the sexes,' said the director. Two of the female pandas are aged four and nine. However, the problem is that the third is 14 years old and not fit for breeding. This essentially means that 12 males have to compete among themselves for the attention of two females, a task in which John, who was rescued from Sikkim and brought to the zoo in April 2007, has apparently excelled. If the two cubs turn out to be females, the zoo authorities can breathe easy. "The newborns are not even a month old and have not yet opened their eyes. We prefer to stay away from them during the initial period,' said Jha. There have been instances of panda parents disowning newborns that came into contact with humans too early. The authorities are, however, confident of finding soulmates for each of the male pandas lodged in the zoo. "We have contacted zoos in Australia and New Zealand so that they can send us two female pandas. The paper works are at a preliminary stage,' said the director. However, such exchanges do not come free and in return for the two female pandas, the Darjeeling zoo will have to send two males to the facilities in Australia and New Zealand. According to sources, there have also been proposals to capture some female pandas from the wild and release a couple of the males in protected forest areas. However, the zoo is waiting for a final nod from higher authorities. The Darjeeling zoo has in the past earned laurels for being the first one in the country to release captive animals in the wild. As part of the red panda project, it had then released four female pandas in Singalila National Park in 2003-04. Apart from the red pandas, a 10-year-old Siberian tiger at the zoo is also looking for a male companion.