Cute, Cuddly, and Endangered: Giant Panda Have a Giant Problem
In 1990, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) officially declared the species known as the Giant Panda as endangered. In 2014, scientists found that there were 1,864 giant pandas left alive in the wild. Though still very low, the population represented a real success, with the numbers increasing from around only 1,000 in the late 1970s. In the past decade, giant panda numbers have risen by 17 percent. This was also great news because, in 2016, it led to the Giant pandas being downgraded from endangered to vulnerable. For 28 years, scientists all around the world were trying to get the population to flourish, and they finally achieved the positive outcome they were looking for. Unfortunately, one year after this great success was announced, Chinese scientists had sobering news: The animal’s natural habitat, temperate-zone bamboo forests in central China, was in serious danger.
Among the best recognized animals and now one of the rarest species, these black and white colored bears have come symbolize endangered species and conservation efforts across. For example, WWF (World Wildlife Fund), internationally known for its international conservation work, uses Chi-Chi the Panda as an inspiration for its logo.
According to the National Zoo, giant pandas are found in the wild only in the remote, mountainous regions of central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The cool, wet bamboo forests in these are perfect for the giant panda's needs.
Unfortunately, the giant panda’s habitat--which once spread across central, southern, and eastern China, and into China’s neighboring countries of Myanmar and northern Vietnam--has been dramatically reduced by the growth in logging and farming.
Now, the species is restricted to only about 20 isolated patches in western China’s Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi Provinces (cite).
Currently, the most pressing issues for the Giant Panda are loss and fragmentation of habitat. Fragmentation occurs when a species' habitat is divided into several small isolated patches. A large proportion of the panda's habitat has already been lost (mostly due to logging for timber and fuel wood) or cleared for farming or buildings to support the teeming population in China. Though the Chinese government banned logging in the panda's habitat in 1998, new roads and railways continue to cut through the region, further fragmenting the home of the pandas. This isolates panda populations and prevents them from breeding successfully, which leads to a decrease in population. Other threats to the numbers of Giant Pandas include harvesting, hunting, and tourism. Seventy-five percent of the plants in Giant Panda habitat is used for traditional Chinese medicine. Harvesting these plants contributes to habitat loss. Increasing tourism around the world is a problem as well. The construction of tourist facilities and the rapidly increasing number of tourists in the forests and China is disturbing pandas and their habitats. Lastly, poaching, though not a really large issue for pandas, does happens accidentally in China even under the strict laws and great public awareness. Hunters kill pandas for their fur, meat, and other parts of the panda's body. Although it is rare for someone to kill a panda intentionally, Pandas still get caught in traps intended for other animals such as musk deer and black bears, which can severely injure or kill them.
What can you do?
You can help the conservation effort by donating to WWF or World Wildlife fund Funding, travelling smart, and spreading the word. Tell your family, friends, whoever and they can help contribute too!
To learn more ways to help pandas go to this website at:
