GIANT PANDA

IN WAY OF EXTINCTION
The giant panda was once widespread throughout southern and eastern
China, as well as neighbouring Myanmar and northern Vietnam.
Giant pandas come from a large flourishing family of same species.
They were once widely distributed over sixteen provinces and regions in
Eastern and Southern China, as well as in certain regions in
neighbouring countries such as Burma and Vietnam. Today, they only
reside scatteredly in the Eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau and in the
forests located within in the six sections of land on the Southern slope of
the Qinling Mountains. Nowadays, there still exist around 1600 pandas,
a rare species in way of extinction
Climate Change Escalation

Due to the Quaternery Glaciations, the

global climate changed drastically,
deteriorating living conditions. Other
animals that existed at the same time as
the giant pandas, such as saber-toothed
tigers, stegodons and Chinese
rhinoceros became extinct due to the
massive climatic change. Although the
giant pandas survived, the occurrence
of continuous disasters since that time
has steadily reduced their distribution
areas and population numbers.
 Human activities impact
Although the giant pandas survived the drastic climate change,
subsequent human activities have exacerbated the threats to the survival
of Giant Pandas:
- Hunting of giant pandas by Man
Hunting further reduced the Giant Panda's already limited population and
increased dramatically upon discovery of Giant Pandas in Baoxing, leading
to an influx of foreign hunters who hunted unscrupulously in China. The
distribution area of giant pandas has been reduced from 50,000
square kilometres to 10,000 square kilometres. The 1600 giant
pandas, which currently exist in China, are mainly distributed
throughout the provinces of Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu, and in the
six mountain ranges of Min Shan, Qinling Qi, Liang Shan, Daxiang
Ling, Xiaoxiang Ling and Lai Shan. These giant panda habitats are
located on the borders of several provinces, cities and
administrative regions, cut by roads, bridges, rivers and villages into
20 island-like areas of differing sizes. The pandas are forced to live
separately in different places. It is very difficult for them to migrate
freely, which leads to in-breeding and a loss of genetic diversity,
which in turn causes a gradual deterioration of species quality and
extinction.
Low rates of reproduction

Adult giant pandas are in heat only once a year. There are usually around 1 to 2
cubs per birth.
Human activities, the segregation of panda populations, the fact that male and
female pandas in heat rarely meet, thereby missing the opportunity to reproduce,
along with disease and death from old age, means that the natural growth rate of
the panda population is very slow. Single type of staple food
Giant pandas have a very narrow diet breadth, eating mainly bamboo.
However, bamboos have a cyclical flowering pattern, and will wither
after blossoming (The cycle takes approximately 60 years). The blossom of
bamboo has been a natural process and giant pandas have long
adapted to this in their course of survival. However, with the breaking up
of their habitats and human interference nowadays, the blossom and
withering of bamboos have aggravated the problem and created a
shortage of food for the giant pandas. Many of them died of starvation,
which threatens the existence of the giant panda population. The threat
is even greater in places in which only one type of bamboo is edible.
Most of the remaining wild pandas live in the
Minshan and Qinling mountains. And it is here
that WWF has focussed its giant panda
conservation work, supporting the Chinese
government's efforts to conserve the species.

After a significant increase in recent years,

China now boasts a network of 67 panda
reserves, which safeguard more than 66% of
the giant pandas in the wild and almost 54% of
their existing habitat.

The Chinese government, in partnership with

WWF, has also developed bamboo corridors to
link isolated pockets of forest, allowing the
pandas within them to move to new areas,
find more food and meet more potential
breeding mates.
How can we help save
the panda?

While the panda's future remains precarious,

its numbers are slowly increasing in the wild.
There are now more panda reserves than ever
before and more projects to help people
sustainably coexist with them.

This is all thanks to the efforts of the Chinese

authorities and local communities, and the
support of WWF and people like you!