Giant panda
The giant panda also known as panda bear or simply panda, is a bear native to south central China. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name “giant panda” is sometimes used to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda’s diet is over 99% bamboo. Giant pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food,More info:wiki
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#10 Monitoring Wild Pandas,More info:institute.sandiegozoo
Our conservation program for giant pandas is aimed at designing effective management strategies to ensure the survival of this iconic species. We are the only team monitoring giant pandas in the wild using GPS satellite telemetry and remote camera traps. At Foping Nature Reserve, our Recovery Ecology field crew is studying mating behavior, dispersal, denning ecology, health status, and the effects of human disturbance. In areas where old-growth trees have been logged, the remaining trees are too small to serve as suitable birthing dens for pandas. We are studying how this limits population size and how we can address it.
Increasing the Panda Population
We are working with our partners to help recover wild populations and remove obstacles to panda reproduction. Research at the Wolong Breeding Center on the timing of ovulation, artificial insemination, early pregnancy detection, birth, maternal care, and cub development is applied to monitoring panda reproductive cycles and improving management following conception. The multidisciplinary scientific approach spearheaded by our Reproductive Sciences team has led to the birth and survival of six cubs at the San Diego Zoo and a dramatic turnaround in the breeding program at the Wolong Breeding Center, where panda numbers have increased from 25 to over 130 in 10 years. For the first time, the possibility of reintroducing pandas into the wild is being discussed.
#9 Wild Giant Pandas Making a Comeback in China,More info:time
#8 Giant panda,More info:nationalzoo
Native to central China, giant pandas have come to symbolize vulnerable species. As few as 1,864 giant pandas live in their native habitat, while another 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is a leader in giant panda conservation. Ever since these charismatic bears arrived at the Zoo in 1972, animal care staff and scientists have studied giant panda biology, behavior, breeding, reproduction and disease. These experts are also leading ecology studies in giant pandas’ native habitat. The Zoo’s giant panda team works closely with colleagues in China to advance conservation efforts around the world.
#7 GIANT PANDA,More info:bearbiology
#6 Panda habitat to be lost, shifted by climate change,More info:insider.si
Fewer than 1,600 giant pandas are left in the mountain forests of central China. Now a new study published in the International Journal of Ecology by scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoological Park, predicts that 16,000 square kilometers of giant panda habitat will likely be lost by the year 2080 as climate change causes panda habitat systems to shift to higher elevations and latitudes.
In other words, less than half of the giant panda’s already decreased habitat will be suitable to sustain them in 70 years. The research team used two different global climate models to make this prediction, taking into account remaining habitat, lost habitat, potential new habitat and current protected areas for giant pandas.
The study also found that habitat fragmentation will likely increase, leading to smaller areas that can support fewer pandas farther away from each other, increasing the risks of inbreeding and population collapse.
#5 Oldest Panda in Captivity Dies in Hong Kong,More info:nationalgeographic
Jia Jia, the world’s oldest giant panda living in captivity, was euthanized on Sunday at Ocean Park, an animal theme and amusement park in Hong Kong. She was 38 years old, reaching an estimated human age equivalent of about 114 years old.
In a statement, Ocean Park said that Jia Jia’s health deteriorated rapidly in the last two weeks, down to eating only seven pounds of food a day—a third of her normal daily food consumption—and losing almost nine pounds. On Sunday, Jia Jia was unable to walk and spent the day lying down, ultimately leading the park and Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to decide to euthanize her.
“She was a member of our family and she will be deeply missed, especially by the park’s keepers who took care of her over the years,” Ocean Park said in a statement. “This is a day we knew would eventually come, but it is nevertheless a sad day for everyone at the park.”
In 2015, Guinness World Records recognized Jia Jia, then 37 years old, as the oldest giant panda ever in captivity. Previously, the oldest giant panda in captivity was Dudu, who was born in 1962 and spent much of her life in China’s Wuhan Zoo until her death in 1999. Giant pandas typically live about 20 years in the wild.
#4 Climate change not the only threat to giant pandas, study says,More info:carbonbrief
This is because other important factors affecting panda distribution, such as farming, tourism and the local distribution of bamboo plants, may have previously been underestimated, the research shows.
The researchers find that, when climate change alone is considered, the amount of land available to pandas in the Qinling mountains of China – which is home to 17% of all wild pandas – is expected to shrink by 49-85% by 2080. However, when the other factors are also considered, the amount of available habitat is expected to fall by a smaller 12-34%.
The results imply that previous studies may have “overestimated the effects of climate change on pandas and led to inappropriate conservation recommendations” in this region, a study author tells Carbon Brief.
However, climate change mitigation should remain an important part of future panda conservation efforts, the researchers add.
#3 The giant panda’s habitat is smaller and more fragmented than when it landed on the endangered species list, despite recently growing population numbers, a new study shows,More info:futurity
The study used geospatial technologies and remote sensing data to map recent land-use changes and the development of roads within the panda’s habitat.
“The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently changed the status of the giant panda from ‘endangered’ to the less threatened ‘vulnerable,’” says Stuart L. Pimm, professor of conservation ecology at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. “This was based on the increasing numbers, which are a very encouraging sign, of course.”
#2 Giant Panda,More info:beartrust
#1 Giant Pandas Are No Longer Endangered,More info:education.nationalgeographic
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