The Giant Panda Express

The Giant Panda Express

        The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a beloved creature known to the world. However, it is also a creature that is critically endangered and faces extinction.  As human advancements obliterate the habitats and influence the lifestyle of the Giant Panda, research is conducted to uncover the cause of the Giant Panda’s current predicament and to improve the methods of conservation to save the Giant Panda. Information gained by researching the Giant Panda and its behaviors would help scientists and conservationists discover just what is hurting the Giant Panda, and what people can do to stop the Giant Panda’s population from decreasing.

Habitat, a word that is constantly mentioned when one talks about an animal, yet no one is quite sure just what the word actually means. Habitat is a spatial unit that can be occupied by an individual animal, no matter how briefly (Liu, Skidmore, Wang, Yong and Prins 1623). The process by which the Giant Panda chose its habitat was known as the habitat selection process. The bear would first choose their habitat based on geographic region, then on the home range in the geographic region, and lastly for a habitat within the home range (Liu, Toxopeus et al. 1623).  The Giant Panda can be found in Southwest China (Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan province).

The Giant Panda is a solitary creature, with a population of less than 1,600 left in the wild (Overview). The animal’s key diet is one to two year old bamboo stems (Liu, Toxopeus et al. 1623).  For a typical Giant Panda, the male’s age of maturity is four to five years old, while a female’s age of maturity is three to five years old (Zhou and Pan 365). Due to its low population, it is the only species of bear to be classified as globally endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s red list (Garshelis et. al. 170). Since the Giant Panda is on the endangered list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the animal has experienced a population reduction of greater than or equal to fifty percent in the last ten years, or the last three generations and that it is expected to experience another reduction in population in the next ten years, even though the cause for the reduction in population is clearly reversible (Criteria).  Due to the species’ rarity, the Giant Panda had been the logo of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) since it was created in 1961 (Overview). The bear is also the most cherished flagship species in the world. A flagship species is a widely recognized endangered species used in campaigns to raise money to help save other less well known species (Kongtoleon and Swanson 484). Not only that, the Giant Panda is also the unofficial national symbol of China (Overview).

The Giant Panda used to roam through most of China, and parts of Myanmar and Vietnam, however due to human activities, the population has been constantly decreasing. The major threat to their survival is the restricted and degraded habitats (Wang and Garshelis). Their habitat is not just one big area of land. In actuality, the Giant Panda’s habitat is fragmented and separated into small patches, each supporting a small population of the pandas. This fragmentation in habitat was caused by logging, deforestation, mining, poaching and by lightning speed economic development (Threats).  Logging had been found to separate the once well integrated Giant Panda habitat into many sub sections (Zhou and Pan 363) and their forest habitats became increasingly fragmented by roads and railroads (Threats). Clearing the land in Giant Panda habitats had been another reason for the fragmentation of the Giant Panda’s habitat (Wang and Garshelis). The animal had been pushed higher and higher into the mountains, as their lower and flatter habitats were seized for human for agricultural activity (Wang and Garshelis). The small population due to the fragmentation is also a factor in the decrease in the population size. Studies have shown that small populations lead to a loss of genetic diversity and can lead to problems of inbreeding (Zhou and Pan 363).

The Chinese government was another key component in helping to save the animal. The government’s goal was to conserve a viable wild population of giant pandas in perpetuity, thereby avoiding extinction of this endangered species. To achieve this goal, the Chinese government wants to reduce human activities in the Giant Panda’s habitat, remove human settlements there, modify forestry operations, control poaching, rehabilitate the habitat, manage bamboo habitats, extend the panda reserve system, achieve outbreeding between the Giant Panda population, maintain a captive population, and release captive-born Giant Pandas in the wild (Conservation). The Chinese government had done a great deal to help the Giant Panda. Due to the government’s tight control and ban on Giant Panda poaching, what was once a major threat to the Giant Panda’s survival is no longer a threat (Wang and Garshelis).The Chinese government had also banned logging in 1998 (Threats).