This article is a 12,690-word panda-palooza (approx. 50-70 mins of your life). Yes, it’s text-heavy—but hey, giant pandas deserve more attention than your average TikTok video!
Pro tip: Brew some tea, grab bamboo snacks (optional), and pretend you’re a scientist saving the species. No reels, just real facts.
The giant panda (scientific name: Ailuropoda melanoleuca) belongs to the family Bearidae, the giant panda is a mammal, and is endemic to China. There are only two subspecies, the Sichuan subspecies and the Qinling subspecies. Females are 10-20% smaller than males. The head and torso are 1.2-1.8 meters long, and the tail is 10-12 cm long. Weigh 80-120 kg, up to 180 kg. The body is fat like a bear, plump and rich. The head is round, the body is fat, and the tail is short. The body color is black and white, and the eye circles, ear shells, shoulders and limbs are dark black, and the rest of the body is milky white. The cheeks are round, there are large "dark circles", the signature inner figure walking style, and there are also scalpel-like sharp claws. Giant pandas have thick skin, up to 10 mm at its thickest point.
Living in dense bamboo forests at an altitude of 2,600-3,500 meters, giant pandas are good at climbing trees and love to play. The act of climbing a tree is generally a way to avoid the strong when the marriage proposal is approaching, or to avoid danger, or when they meet each other. Giant pandas spend half of their day eating, and spend most of the remaining half of their time in their sleep. In the wild, giant pandas sleep for 2-4 hours in the middle of every two feedings. 99% of the giant panda's diet is bamboo, and there are more than 60 species of bamboo plants in 12 genera that can be eaten by giant pandas. Giant pandas live between 18 and 20 years in the wild and can exceed 30 years in captivity.
The giant panda has lived on the earth for at least 8 million years, is known as a "living fossil" and "China's national treasure" (national animal), the image ambassador of the World Wide Fund for Nature, and is the flagship species of the world's biodiversity conservation. As of January 2024, China's wild giant panda population has grown to nearly 1,900. As of October 2023, the total number of giant pandas living abroad in China has reached 63.
History of Zoology
evolve
The giant panda has a long history. The fossils of the oldest giant panda member ever discovered, the first panda (Ailuaractos lufengensis), were excavated in Lufeng and Yuanmou, Yunnan, China, and are geologically datedAbout 8 million years ago in the late Miocene. In the long-term and harsh competition for survival and natural selection, many of their contemporaries have become extinct, but the giant panda is the strongest, in an advantageous position, and has survived to this day as a "living fossil".
The ancestor of the giant panda is the first panda, which is the earliest carnivorous panda that evolved from the bear-like species. The main branch of the Archaeoptera continued to evolve in central and southern China, one of which appeared in the early Pleistocene about 3 million years ago, was smaller than the panda, and it is inferred from its teeth that it evolved into an omnivorous beast that also eats bamboo, oviparous bears, and then this main branch expanded to the subtropics, and fossils have been found in North China, Northwest China, East China, Southwest China, South China, as well as Vietnam and northern Myanmar. Fossils from northern Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as much of China as far as Beijing, suggest that giant pandas were widely distributed in East Asia during the Early Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago). In the process, the giant panda adapted to life in the subtropical bamboo forest, gradually increasing in size and relying on bamboo for survival. The middle and late Pleistocene epoch, 500,000-700,000 years ago, was the heyday of the giant panda. The giant panda in life has well-developed molars, and its paws have a "thumb" in addition to five toes. This "thumb" is actually a carpal bone formed by specialization, and the scientific name is "radial sesamoid", which mainly plays the role of holding bamboo.
Fossils show that the giant panda ancestor appeared 2-3 million years ago in the early Flood Period. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the giant panda was at its peak, belonging to the saber-toothed paleontology, and its habitat once covered much of eastern and southern China, from Beijing in the north to southern Myanmar and northern Vietnam in the south. Fossils are usually found in temperate or subtropical forests at an altitude of 500-700 meters. Later, the animals of the same period became extinct one after another, but the giant panda has been left behind to this day, and it has maintained its original ancient characteristics.
Chinese have known pandas for a long time, and various names for pandas were recorded as early as the early days of writing. "Shujing" is called Pi, "Mao Poems" is called Bai Zhen, "Emei Mountain Chronicles" is called Pixiu, and "Beast Classic" is called raccoon, Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" called tapir, and so on. [4]
In March 1869, the French naturalist Father Armand David (September 7, 1826 – November 10, 1900) was in Dengchigou, Baoxing County, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, China During a scientific investigation near the (Muping) church, traces of what the locals call the white bear and the flower bear were found. With the help of local hunters, on April 1, he collected specimens of white bears, with black and white fur and hairy soles that resembled bears, a strange animal he had never seen before. Its specimens and skeletons were shipped to France. Alphonse Miller Edwards, a scientist at the Paris Museum of Natural History, identified the "black and white bear" as a new species, named "Ailuropoda melanoleuca" (cat bear), and the identification report was published in the fifth volume of the "New Documents of the Paris Natural History Museum" in 1869, and since then, the cat and bear living in the wilderness have entered the field of human civilization.
christen
In the first year of Xuantong (1909 AD), a new dictionary was compiled by Ouyang Pucun and Xu Yuanhe for six years, and it was published by Zhonghua Book Company in 1915. Named "The Great Chinese Dictionary", this book contains more than 48,200 words, including the entry "panda".
The modern name of the giant panda (i.e., the name commonly used in China) was originally named cat bear or big cat bear, which means that its face is as round and fat as a cat, but the whole body shape is bear-like, and it was directly affiliated with the bear family at that time 。 Because before the 50s of the 20th century, the Chinese writing method was straight script, and the reading was from right to left, and after changing to horizontal script, it was from left to right, when the Beibei Museum in Sichuan Province exhibited in 1939, the title was written in horizontal script, the name cat and bear, and at that time visitors were accustomed to the reading of straight book from right to left, and misread it as "panda".
Since then, first in its hometown (Sichuan), the main production of its hometown, has been passed down from generation to generation for a long time, and over time it has become accustomed to changing the name of the cat bear to the panda. Later, its common Chinese name was Giant Panda, and it was recognized by people. Its place name is mostly called white bear or white old bear in its hometown, and it is also called "flower bear"; In the Minshan Tibetan area, it is called Dang or Du Dongga, and the Baima Tibetan in Pingwu County is called "Dongga"; The Yi nationality in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is called "Equ". All these place names, although they are called differently, and their meanings are similar to those called Pixiu or tapir in ancient books, which are nothing more than indicating that its body color is white, or black and white, or its body shape resembles a bear.
Other names for giant pandas include Hua Xiong, Bamboo Bear, Silver Dog and Giant Raccoon. Silver dog, this is because the local name and trade name of the red panda are golden dog, and the corresponding panda is called silver dog because of its white body color. The bamboo bear is named after the bear, which is its main feeding habit of bamboo. Hua Xiong shows that it is a rare and exotic beast that is a specialty of the Chinese nation.
When the Western world recognized it, it was originally translated as "big panda" or "panda", but another legend has it that when it first published the news in the 20th century, it was accidentally reversed to "panda", and unexpectedly became a common name. If we follow these names as clues, we can trace many magical records.
There are relatively well-established rules and requirements for the official name of the giant panda, which basically requires the connection with the giant panda to be reflected in the name, so that it can be tracked and identified in the relevant scientific research process.
classify
The exact classification of the giant panda has been controversial for decades because it shares traits with bears and raccoons. In 1985, molecular studies showed that the giant panda was a true bear and belonged to the bear family. These studies suggest that giant pandas diverged from a common ancestor of the bear family about 19 million years ago; It is the most basic member of the bear family, at an equal distance from all other extant bear species. Giant pandas are known as living fossils.
Researchers have struggled to agree on a classification of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). In the early 20th century, wildlife researchers and taxonomists who discovered giant pandas in China believed that they were related to red pandas, and they shared several traits, such as eating bamboo。 And has some similar unusual anatomical features, such as a part of the wrist that resembles a pair of raw thumbs. Both of these animals are known as "pandas". Their behavior, diet, habitat, and lifestyle are very similar, and red pandas can behave just as fun, slow, and clumsy as giant pandas. They also walk with similar gait and posture, and the Chinese naturally think of them as similar animals. In China, their distribution now overlaps.
DNA studies typically classify giant pandas as bears or pandas, and red pandas as red pandas. The scientific classification of giant pandas has been controversial due to the fact that both giant pandas and red pandas have the characteristics of bears and raccoons, and there are obvious differences between them and animals in these two families, and some people have proposed to solve this problem by listing giant pandas separately in the family Giant Pandas. Even with modern genetic testing techniques, comparisons of different proteins or nucleic acids can yield very different results. Therefore, the classification of giant pandas is still very controversial to this day. Among the living creatures, the closest creature to the giant panda is the spectacled bear in South America.
In the fourth issue of the Journal of Mammalogy in 2005, a paper was published in which the giant panda was divided into two subspecies: the Sichuan giant panda and the Qinling giant panda. Among them, the Qinling giant panda was first proposed by Professor Zheng Guangmei of Beijing Normal University in 1964, and the research of Professor Fang Shengguo of the School of Life Sciences of Zhejiang University has made this theory internationally recognized.
For more than 100 years, biologists have debated the correct classification of the giant panda species, and finally the data collected by modern molecular biology methods confirmed that the giant panda is a genus of its own, which belongs to neither the raccoon family nor the genus Ursus.
On December 13, 2009, the giant panda genome sequencing research project was completed. The sequencing involved more than 20,000 genes on 21 pairs of chromosomes of giant pandas. The results showed that the giant panda is a species of the bear family and is the closest to the genome of dogs among the species that have completed genome sequencing (the whole genome of the giant panda is 78.2% similar to the whole genome of dogs, and 63.2% is similar to the whole genome of humans). So far, the giant panda belongs to the bear family, which is scientifically certified and widely accepted.
Eight species that exist in the bear family: giant panda, spectacled bear, Asiatic black bear, American black bear, brown bear, sloth bear, Malayan bear and polar bear, Among them, the pedigree branch of the giant panda is the earliest.
found
Baoxing County is located in the city of Ya'an in northwestern Sichuan, China, and is a place of overlapping mountains, luscious streams and springs, towering trees, and pleasant scenery in all seasons. It is located in the transition zone from a basin to a plateau high mountain. It is home to nearly a quarter of China's animal species, many of which are exotic animals. From 1862 to 1874, while living in China, the French missionary Armand Davide learned that there were many species of animals in Baoxing, Sichuan, some of which were rare and unknown species, so he arrived in Baoxing from Shanghai to serve as the fourth generation priest of the Dengchigou Church in Mupingdonghe.
In the spring of 1869, Davide passed by the home of a man surnamed Li on his way when he was suddenly attracted by a strange black and white animal skin hanging on the wall. The owner told him that the locals called this animal "white bear", "flower bear" or "bamboo bear", and that it was docile and generally harmless. Davide was thrilled, estimating that the animal "would be an interesting new species in science" and that the discovery would fill a gap in the world's animal research. To get his hands on this exotic animal, Davide hired 20 local hunters to hunt it down. On March 23, the hunters brought in the first small "white bear", but unfortunately they killed it for the sake of carrying.
On May 4, 1869, Davide caught a "bamboo bear", which he named "Black and White Bear", and the cute "black and white bear" was very popular with Davide's furry, black and white appearance, round and large head and funny movements. After a period of careful feeding, Davide decided to bring this adorable "black and white bear" back to France. This cute "black and white bear" could not withstand the bumps of the long mountain road and the constant changes in the climate, and was dying before it arrived in Chengdu, so Davide had to make the skin of this "black and white bear" into a specimen and send it to the National Museum in Paris, France for exhibition. The world's first giant panda type specimen was produced in this way.
The National Museum of Paris, France, exhibited this hide, and after full research by the museum director Miller Edwards, he believed that it was neither a bear nor a cat, but another larger cat bear similar to the small cat bear found in Tibet, China, so he officially named it "Big Cat Bear".
In 1939, Chongqing Pingming Zoo held an exhibition of animal specimens, among which the "cat bear" specimen attracted the most attention from the audience. Its signage is in a popular international writing format, with Chinese and Latin respectively. However, because the customary reading of Chinese at that time was from right to left, visitors all read "panda" as "panda", and over time, people conventionally called "big panda" "giant panda". A newspaper in Taiwan once wrote an article to correct the name of "panda", but the people have become accustomed to it, and instead feel that "panda bear" is not so agreeable. Since then, the modern name "Giant Panda" was born. Davide became the first foreigner to introduce China's Baoxing giant pandas to the Western world.
The discovery of the giant panda caused a sensation in the Western world. Since then, waves of Western explorers, hunters, and museum taxidermy collectors have come to the panda region to try to unravel the mystery of the giant panda and hunt this exotic animal. Among them were Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt, two sons of President Roosevelt of the United States. The two brothers first went to Baoxing County, where Davide found the giant panda, but found nothing, and then entered Daliang Mountain. In Yuexi County, they shot and killed a giant panda and brought it back to the United States as a specimen. Later, explorers from Germany, Britain and other countries hunted giant pandas, and even more from Chinese hunters. For a time, many museums in Western countries had specimens of giant pandas. But they were never able to catch a single live giant panda.
In 1936, 67 years after Father Davide discovered the panda, Ruth Elizabeth Harkness, a 35-year-old New York fashion designer, was newly married. Her husband, William Harkness, was an avid explorer who traveled to China two weeks after their marriage in search of giant pandas. However, William died of illness in Shanghai before he could reach the panda production area. Determined to fulfill her husband's legacy, Ruth set out for China in April 1936, two months after her death.
Ruth's expedition consisted of just two people — she and 25-year-old Chinese American Ginting Yang. They traveled from Shanghai to Chengdu in a small wooden boat, and then entered Wenchuan, where they searched for giant pandas in the mountains and forests, and set traps to hunt them. On November 9, 1936, when Yang Quentin caught a small furry animal from the hole in the tree and handed it to Ruth, who was already numb from the cold, she could not believe that this was the living giant panda that Westerners had dreamed of for more than half a century. Lucky Ruth quickly returned to Chengdu with Su Lin, and then flew to Shanghai.
Although Westerners have sought the giant panda for more than half a century and know it to be a rare and endangered animal, until then, Chinese knew almost nothing about the giant panda. Hunters are free to hunt these "bears" at will, and the government does not have any regulations or measures to protect them. Ruth's trouble is not that she captured a giant panda, but that she could not leave the country because she had incomplete procedures to enter Chinese mainland. Eventually, she paid bribes to board a ship bound for the United States. She packed Su Lin in a large wicker basket, wrote "carry a pug with you" on the customs registration form, and mixed it out of customs.
Ruth and Su Lin were still sailing in the Pacific Ocean, and the news had already spread throughout the United States by transoceanic telegrams. When the ship docked at the San Francisco pier, it was the day before Christmas, and the surprised Americans held a grand welcome ceremony on the pier, arranging the most luxurious suites for their precious guests. Su Lin was sent to many big cities to exhibit, causing a sensation everywhere she went. Theodore, Roosevelt's son who had traveled to China in search of giant pandas, said emotionally when he met Su Lin, "If this little guy were to be a souvenir from my gun, I would rather use my son instead." ”
After a fierce competition, the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, USA, got Su Lin. People flocked to the zoo like a tidal wave, with a maximum of 40,000 people a day, surpassing the zoo's record for admissions. Su Lin's every move became the news of the newspaper. Merchants rushed to make products in the image of giant pandas. Fashionable girls swagger through the market in swimsuits with panda motifs. Even one cocktail has the name of a giant panda. Ruth and Surin's story became a bestseller and was brought to the screen.
Unfortunately, Su Lin only lived for a year and was made into a permanent specimen. The appearance of Su Lin brought the giant panda from the museum to the public. It is not only rare, but also cute, and has become an animal star all over the world for a while. Western powers even wanted China to capture giant pandas, and from 1936 to 1941, the United States alone took nine giant pandas from China. West China University, a church school in Chengdu, helped a lot in this. After 20 years in the panda production area, the Englishman Tamgier Smith, known as the "Panda King", bought a total of nine live giant pandas in the three years from 1936 to 1938 and brought six of them to the United Kingdom.
During World War II, the giant panda "Ming" at the London Zoo was bombed by German planes and became a wartime hero in the hearts of London citizens. At the height of the war, the newspapers continued to report on Ming's life. Ming died at the end of 1944. The obituary published in The Times stated: "She could die without regret because she brought happiness to thousands". After the end of World War II in December 1945, the British organized a team of more than 200 people through diplomatic channels to conduct a large-scale search in Wenchuan, and finally captured a giant panda and sent it to Britain. Like many things in China, the panda's status in China has risen rapidly since it made a splash abroad. Beginning in the 40s of the 20th century, the government began to restrict the hunting activities of foreigners.
In July 2022, Chinese and American scientists found that giant pandas have been fond of eating bamboo for at least 6 million years by studying the "sixth finger" fossils of early giant pandas. The results were published in the international journal Scientific Reports. The results show that the "sixth finger" of the giant panda is not like the human thumb, which can move independently, and it forms a complex with the first metacarpal bone and the scapholunate bone by fixing the joint, and then links with the other metacarpal bones. Although it is a passive grasp, it is enough to provide the giant panda with the grip strength needed to eat bamboo.
On March 12, 2024, the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported that Chen Youhua's team from the Institute and Zhan Xiangjiang's team from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly tackled key problems, comprehensively considering key factors such as ecological variables, genetic diversity and dispersal capacity of species, and innovatively proposed the comprehensive evaluation standard of the Life Strategy Index (LSI). Studies have shown that giant pandas, Chinese giant salamanders, and Chinese alligators show higher evolutionary or ecological potential across taxa involving 8 flagship or iconic species.
Morphological characteristics
somatotype
Giant pandas are plump and plump like bears, and generally males are about 10-20% larger than females. The head is round and the tail is short, the head and torso are 1.2-1.8 meters long, the tail is 10-15 cm long (the second longest tail in the bear family, after the sloth bear), the shoulder height is 60-90 cm, and the average weight of adult giant pandas is 100-120 kg, with the heaviest being 180 kg and males weighing up to 160 kg. Females weigh 70-125 kg.
The most striking features of giant pandas are their large size and round face, which is the result of their adaptation to a bamboo diet. Anthropologist Russell Ciochon observed: "Like herbivorous gorillas, the giant panda has a low body surface area to body volume ratio, which indicates a lower metabolic rate." This lower metabolic rate and more sedentary lifestyle allows the panda to live on nutrient-poor resources such as bamboo. The giant panda's round face is caused by the powerful jaw muscles that extend from the top of the head to the lower jaw.
The giant panda's skull has also undergone some changes. They have a large sagittal ridge that becomes wider and deeper, resulting in a powerful jaw. Giant pandas also have penile bones (bony shafts in the soft tissues of the penis). However, the penile bones of other bears are straight forward, while the penile bones of giant pandas are "S" shaped and backward.
fur
Giant pandas have thick skin, up to 10 mm at its thickest point. The thickness of the skin varies depending on the body, the back of the body is thicker than the ventral side, the outer part of the body is thicker than the inside, the average thickness of the skin is about 5 mm, and the color is white, elastic and flexible. The panda's thick fur keeps it warm in the cool forests of its habitat.
Giant pandas have black fur around their eyes, ears, limbs, and shoulders, and the rest of their fur is white. The hair color of the head and body is black and white, but the black is not pure black, and the white is not pure white, but the black is translucent brown and white is yellow. The individuals in the Qinling Mountains are larger, with coarse body hair and slightly brown abdominal hair. Minshan (especially Pingwu County, Qingchuan County) is smaller, the body hair is thinner than the former, and the brown abdominal hair is not obvious, but the individuals in Liangshan are not small.
The distinctive colors of giant pandas seem to serve as camouflage in both winter and summer environments, as they do not hibernate. The white area plays the role of camouflage in the snow, while the black shoulders and legs hide them in the shade. Field studies have found that giant pandas exhibit destructive colors from a distance, while when viewed up close, they rely more on blending into their environment. Black ears may be used to show aggression, while blindfolds may help them identify each other. The black and white exterior is conducive to hiding in dense forests and snowy floors without being easily detected by predators.
pupil
Giant pandas have extremely underdeveloped vision. This is due to the fact that giant pandas live in dense bamboo forests for a long time, and the light is very dark and there are many obstacles, which makes their vision very short-sighted. Also, since its pupils are longitudinally lobed like those of cats. As a result, they can still move in the evening when night falls.
tooth
Giant panda teeth have excellent weight-bearing capacity and resistance to injury, which can be used to chew bamboo. Its tooth enamel has a special restorative function, which makes its teeth less susceptible to wear and tear when chewing bamboo branches. The giant panda has a total of 42 teeth: the upper jaw consists of 6 incisors, 2 canines, 8 premolars and 5 molars. The lower and upper jaws have the same tooth structure, and the two together have 42 teeth. The bite force of the canine teeth of the giant panda is 1298.9 Newtons, and the bite force of the cracked teeth is 1815.9 Newtons.
Their teeth are similar to those of bears. With the change of eating habits of the giant panda, some organs have also undergone corresponding changes, especially the teeth, it'smolarVery developed, it is the most powerful of the carnivores, the structure is more complex, close toOmnivorousMammalsCracked teethThe differentiation is not obvious,canine tooth和premolarDeveloped, noCoggingInterval. The upper incisors are arranged in an arc, the lower incisors are arranged in a horizontal row, and the second pair of lower incisors are often placed in the posterior position, which seems to form a double row, a phenomenon that is more pronounced on the skulls of older individuals. Canines have thick roots, while crowns appear shorter and the tips are not sharp. The first pair of premolars is extremely small and often has one or both missing sides, the anterior edge of the second pair of upper premolars is inward, the posterior edge is outward, and the crowns of the third and fourth pairs of upper premolars are prismatic, with 3 on the outside and 2 odontoids on the medial. The molars are called the mounds, and the masticatory surface is extra-broad, roughly rectangular, with nodular-shaped cusps of different sizes, the upper molars have 4 larger cusps, and the last upper molar is extra-large and extends posteriorly to the posterior part of the zygomatics, with a complex small prismatic crown surfaceOdontoid process, the last lower molar, the cusp is not distinct, and is located medial to the anterior edge of the mandibular ramus. In general, the last upper molar of carnivores is located at the anterior edge of the base of the coronal process, and the backward movement of the molars of the giant panda can limit the left and right oscillation of the upper and lower molars, and can enhance the chewing effect, but the grinding effect is limited. The wear of the molars varies from the upper to the bottom, with the lower molars originating on the outside and the upper molars beginning on the medial side because the distance between the left and right upper molars is greater than the spacing of the lower mandibular molars. In general, its teeth are different from those of other carnivores, but very similar to those of herbivorous ungulates.
Limb palms
Giant pandas have relatively sharp claws and well-developed and powerful front and rear limbs, which are conducive to the giant panda to quickly climb tall trees. The distinctive feature of the panda is that it has an extra pair of fingers on its hand, known as the "panda thumb". In the past, the thumb of the panda has caused confusion about the classification of these bears. This finger is not actually a thumb, but a layer of leather pad that covers the sesamoid structure of the radius (carpal bone). The unusual anatomical feature of the giant panda is the enlarged carpal bone, which functions a bit like a thumb, allowing the panda to handle food with considerable dexterity. The 5 clawed toes on the forefoot are parallel, in addition to a sixth finger, that is, a powerful sesamoid bone grows from the carpal bone, which plays the role of a "thumb", and this "thumb" can be combined with the other 5 fingers to hold bamboo well, and even grasp things, climb trees, etc. The standard is called "radial sesamoid".
Odor glands
The panda's solitary nature is highlighted by its dependence on smell. The range of each giant panda is limited to about 4-6 square kilometers, but these ranges often overlap considerably. In this arrangement, odor plays a role in regulating contact between individuals. Large scent glands, located under the tail and around the anus, are used to leave olfactory information for other pandas. The gland is rubbed against trees, rocks, and grass, and the scent conveys information that marks the individual's identity, gender, and possible social status. Chemical analysis of the markers is consistent with differences in male and female function. Males seem to use smell to identify the area they live in, while females mainly use smell to signal heat. Aside from mothers caring for their cubs, the only social activity of giant pandas occurs during the female's estrus period. Males seem to locate females first by smell and eventually by vocalization.
Habitat
Giant pandas inhabit the high mountains and deep valleys of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China, which is the windward side of the southeast monsoon, and the climate is cool and humid, and its humidity is often above 80%, and they are a moisture-loving animal. The giant panda lives in six narrow strips, including Minshan, Qionglai Mountain, Liangshan, Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling and Qinlingand other major mountain systems, spanning 45 counties (cities) in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, with a habitat area of more than 20,000 square kilometers. The wild population has reached more than 1,800, of which more than 80% are distributed in Sichuan. The areas in which they are active are mostly in gullies, mountain depressions, river valley terraces, etc., and are generally in gentle slope terrain below 20°. These places are densely forested, bamboo grows well, temperatures are relatively stable, shelter conditions are good, and food and water sources are abundant.
Giant pandas live at an altitude of 1,200-4,100 meters, mainly in dense bamboo forests at 2,600-3,500 meters, where the air is thin all year round, clouds and fog, and the temperature is below 20°C. A number of other factors also affect the distribution and density of pandas in the wild: bamboo, topography, water sources, whether there are hiding places and nests to nurse their young, and mountainous terrain. Human disturbance is the main factor affecting the distribution of giant pandas today.
Giant pandas are not afraid of cold and humidity and never hibernate. Even when the temperature is between -4 and 14°C, they still walk through the bamboo bushes that are heavily weighed down by the snow. They are also not afraid of humidity and always prefer to live in a humid world with a humidity of more than 80%.
Habits
Behavioral characteristics
Giant pandas spend half of their day eating, and spend most of the remaining half of their time in their sleep. In the wild, giant pandas sleep for 2-4 hours between each feeding, lying flat, lying on their side, lying on their stomachs, stretching or curling up in a ball. At the zoo, the keepers feed them twice a day, so the pandas spend the rest of the time resting. Giant pandas look cute even when they are sleeping. They are very nimble and are able to put their bulky bodies in a variety of positions. My favorite position is to prop my legs on a tree and cover my eyes with my hands.
The cutest features of the giant panda are its chubby body and its slow walking style. This is because they live in an environment where there is plenty of food, there are no natural predators, and there is no need to move quickly. However, it is this slow-moving action that allows it to conserve energy for low-energy foods. They will also sometimes climb trees to scout for intruders, or take naps.
Giant pandas are good at climbing trees and love to play. The act of climbing a tree is generally a way to avoid the strong when the marriage proposal is approaching, or to avoid danger, or when they meet each other. Pandas sometimes go down to the valleys, string into small villages or houses, and use pots and pans, especially round utensils, as toys, and discard them in the mountains after playing. Sometimes they are friendly with sheep, pigs and other domestic livestock, and they eat and live together.
Normally, giant pandas are always very docile, and when they first meet people, they often cover their faces with their forepaws, or lower their heads to show their true faces. They rarely actively attack other animals or people, and always adopt an evasive approach when encountering them by chance in the wild. But once she becomes a mother, her little baby is sacrosanct, even if it is a caring visit, it will anger the mother to be angry, open her teeth and claws, and move her hands and feet. Sometimes they also like to do some grooming and other adaptation activities. You can stretch your body straight like a cat, stretch your forelimbs out, lift your back half of your body to stretch your body flexibly, or yawn with your forelimbs straight out when you wake up. If you get wet or wade through a river, you can shake off the water like a dog.
In the wild, giant pandas often clash during the heat season, especially when three or four males pursue a female in heat. Sometimes, females and males also fight. In zoos, their fights are usually over water, food, or a certain giant panda taking over good territory.
Odor marking
For the giant panda population, visible signals mean nothing to them: their round faces lack expression, their tails are short, they don't have a crown or brown fur to spread out, and their ears can be raised and lowered but they are not flexible enough. This is all due to the fact that pandas live in the dense misty bamboo forests of the high mountains all year round and cannot see each other.
Most of the panda's communication is achieved through scent markers left in the habitat. When they want to meet, usually during the estrus season, they find each other through scent markers.
Marking their territory with scent is their secret to keeping peace in the bamboo forest. Giant pandas apply secretions from perianal glands to posts, tree stumps, walls, ground, and other places where they often pass. The scent exchange of giant pandas plays many roles in their social environment. Scents and scents are used to disseminate information about sexual status, including whether females are in heat, age, sex, personality, dominance over territory, and choice of settlement. These odor markers allow them to avoid each other or come together. During the non-estrus season, they will walk away as soon as they smell the strange panda. During estrus season, the scent of a female panda may indicate that she is ready to mate and wants to attract males.
There are several ways to mark giant pandas. They are often marked with urine, or a mixture of urine and perianal gland secretions. When they mark, they shake their heads and their mouths are half open. Once marked, they will peel off the bark or leave scratches where they have been marked to attract the attention of other pandas.
Vocal communication
This species communicates mainly by making babbling sounds. Giant pandas interact peacefully by making this sound. When in heat, the female makes a chirping sound. In hostile confrontations or fights, pandas make sounds such as roaring or roaring. On the other hand, screaming usually indicates low self-esteem and submission in an argument. Other vocalizations include chirping and moaning. Giant pandas rely on their rich "language" to express emotions ranging from amorous to angry. Silence is another form of communication. Giant pandas do not make any sound when they are playing, or when they simply express friendliness and no mating or aggressive thoughts. This sound rule can help people judge the behavior of most pandas seen in zoos.
Food-eating food
The eating habit of the giant panda is one of its most peculiar and interesting habits, because it almost completely depends on eating bamboo for a living, in the wild naturally feeding on more than 50 kinds of plants, bamboo accounts for more than half, and accounts for 99% of the annual food amount, of which the most favorite to eat are 7 kinds of bamboo and bamboo.
Giant pandas still retain the simpler digestive tract of carnivores, without the complex stomachs and huge cecums that herbivores have for storing food, and there are no symbiotic bacteria or ciliates in the stomach and intestines that ferment cellulose in plants into absorbable nutrients. The only way to get the nutrients you need is to eat and pull as you go. An adult giant panda weighing 100 kg spends 12-16 hours a day in the spring, eating 10-18 kg of bamboo leaves and stalks, or 30-38 kg of fresh bamboo shoots, and excreting more than 10 kg of feces at the same time to maintain the balance of metabolism.
The panda's food is poor in nutrition and cannot have too much energy storage. In order to conserve energy, it is necessary to control activities that consume too much energy. Therefore, it prefers to walk in gentle places and avoid climbing. They usually only move around in a small area, and they use smells, sounds, etc. to transmit information, and do not come into direct contact with each other. In addition to bamboo, giant pandas also eat some weeds and other plants, but the amount they eat is very small. In addition, it is not a real "monk", and when it encounters an opportunity, it must also open a "meat" to restore the nature of its ancestors. For example, in its habitat, there is a kind of pest called bamboo rat, commonly known as "bamboo slick", which eats the underground roots of arrow bamboo, so that the arrow bamboo dies. But its meat is tender and delicious, rich in nutrients, just as a local saying goes: "The turtledove in the sky, the bamboo slip on the ground". The giant panda has an ingenious way to deal with the bamboo rat, once it smells its scent, or finds its traces, it can quickly find its burrow, and then spew into the hole with its mouth and slap it vigorously with its front paws, forcing the bamboo rat to flee in a hurry, and the giant panda takes the opportunity to jump up, hold it down with its front paws, tear off the rat's skin, and eat its flesh. If the bamboo rat does not come out of the burrow, the giant panda will dig a hole and raid the house until it is caught.
Although the giant panda also has the potential to eat meat as a carnivore, it rarely preys on animals or animal carcasses, not because it does not like to eat meat, but because it lacks opportunities. Because there are very few large carnivores in the distribution area of the giant panda, there are not many carcasses left for it to eat. If it often catches small animals such as rodents, the nutrients it receives are often not enough to compensate for the energy it consumes. As a result, giant pandas can only occasionally eat a little meat, and most of the time they rely on bamboo to sustain their lives, becoming a life-bound animal that follows the rules and lives on bamboo.
Captive giant pandas are mainly fed on one or several species of bamboo, and the supplementary food is concentrated feed based on grains. Bamboo is the key to the growth and development, health and normal breeding of giant pandas. With the improvement of giant panda breeding technology, it is gradually realized that the alpine or subalpine bamboos that provide pandas with their favorite food play an important role in their health and normal breeding. Plus improved traffic conditions. Under captive conditions, giant pandas can also be artificially provided with a large number of alpine or subalpine bamboo.
The food of giant pandas is not a single arrow bamboo, in fact, there are many types of bamboo that giant pandas like to eat, and arrow bamboo is only one of the more common types. These bamboos grow under the canopy of subalpine dark coniferous forests, montane dark coniferous forests, montane coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests and montane evergreen broad-leaved forests, with altitudes ranging from 700 to 3500 m. The staple food of giant pandas in different mountain systems is different. The panda's diet varies depending on the mountain system and the season, feeding on different species of bamboo or different parts of the same species of bamboo in different seasons. In spring and summer, I like to eat different kinds of bamboo shoots, in autumn I mostly eat bamboo leaves, and in winter I eat bamboo stalks as the staple food.
Common edible bamboo species of giant pandas in the wild include: Bamboo, Bamboo, Bamboo, etc. The commonly used edible bamboo species for giant pandas in captivity are Bashan wood bamboo, spiny bamboo, white bamboo, bamboo bamboo, light bamboo, bitter bamboo, broad-leaved bamboo bamboo, moso bamboo, also known as Mengzong bamboo, cold arrow bamboo, crutch bamboo, arrow bamboo, March bamboo shoots, square bamboo shoots, etc. In addition to mainly eating bamboo, captive giant pandas can also obtain a small amount of concentrated feed, fruits, and vitamin and trace element additives. This is mainly due to the fact that giant pandas cannot eat completely freely under captive conditions, and there is insufficient or unbalanced nutrient intake. Therefore, additions and additions are made manually. The main raw materials of concentrate feed include corn, soybeans, rice, wheat, etc. After these raw materials are cleaned, they are processed into giant panda food according to a certain ratio and processed through a special process. All of the panda's food is subject to strict selection criteria and needs to undergo safety and nutrition testing before use. Only food that meets the requirements will be finally served to the pandas.
How to eat
Giant pandas spend nearly half of their day eating. The digestive tract of giant pandas retains ancestral traits similar to those of carnivores, such as a relatively short digestive tract, sharp canine teeth, a single-chambered stomach, the absence of a cecum, and relatively sharp claws and more developed meat pads. In the long process of evolution, it gradually evolved into a staple food of high-fiber bamboo, and evolved some structural characteristics adapted to bamboo, such as masseter muscles, tooth crowns, and tooth protrusions, and the front paws in addition to five toes also evolved a pseudo-thumb to form a pair of grip structures to facilitate the holding of bamboo.
Giant pandas spend most of their time gathering, preparing and eating with their hands and feet. They don't care where they are – sitting, lying flat, leaning on their side – they just keep peeling bamboo poles and eating bamboo leaves. 99% of the panda's food is bamboo, and sometimes it can be some wildflowers, vines, weeds, honey, or even some meat.
Giant pandas eat bamboo and love to drink water, and most pandas have their homes near streams and streams, where they can drink from the springs. Giant pandas drink water at least once a day, and although food is abundant in some places, it is difficult to find giant pandas when there is a lack of water. In winter, when the mountain water is frozen by ice, some giant pandas may also travel long distances down the ditch to the valley to drink water and then return to their homeland because they are nostalgic for the hidden conditions and food base of their homeland. Giant pandas always seek to get water, and day after day they take an obvious path to drink. When they come to the stream, they lick and suck their water, and if the stream is frozen or filled with gravel, they break the ice with their forepaws or dig a shallow pit about 25×20 cm with their claws to lick it. Giant pandas eat bamboo as their main food, but bamboo is difficult to digest and absorb. As a result, the giant panda's energy intake is greatly restricted, and all its activities must take into account the intake of as much energy as possible and the consumption of as little energy as possible.
With the change of climate and food distribution, the giant panda has a vertical migration habit, moving up to the mountains in summer to forage for bamboo shoots, and moving down to the middle and low mountain areas in autumn and winter.
Giant pandas have a low digestion and utilization rate of bamboo, and the food stays in the body for a short time, so they take a large amount of food and excrete it quickly to obtain enough energy to meet their needs. According to the different parts of the giant panda in different seasons, its daily feed intake is roughly as follows: 23-40 kg of bamboo shoots; bamboo leaves 10-18 kg; Bamboo stalk 17 kg. Giant pandas are very intelligent animals, which is reflected in their excellent feeding strategies. They not only select the bamboo species with the best nutritional value in the area, but also give preference to the parts with the highest nutritional value. The order of feeding is bamboo shoots, young bamboo, and bamboo stalks.
Fecal characteristics
Fresh panda droppings are pure green, sweet potato-shaped, and covered in mucus for a week. When broken, it has a bitter taste similar to mint, which is the taste of fermented bamboo leaves. DNA testing of giant panda feces can be used to obtain relevant data. For example, fresh feces within 3 days can monitor the individual information and sex of giant pandas; Bamboo feces can monitor the age structure of giant pandas. Based on this data, scientists can gain insight into the population structure and habits of giant pandas, and make precise decisions about whether pandas should be released into the wild as male or female, and where they should be released.
As for the field patrol work, because the giant pandas have a keen sense of hearing and smell, and they will run away when they hear movement, it is difficult for the rangers to encounter the giant pandas. Panda droppings can only be picked up once or twice a year, so panda droppings are temporarily frozen in the freezer for storage.
Distribution
Extant: China (Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces); Extinction: China (Hunan and Hubei provinces).
The giant panda is endemic to China, and its distribution area includes the Qinling Mountains, Minshan Mountains, Qionglai Mountains, Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling Mountains and Xiaoliang Mountains. The Qinling Mountains are distributed in the southern foothills, the main distribution county is Foping, the general distribution county is Yangxian, and only a small number of counties are Taibai, Ningshan, Zhouzhi, Liuba, Ningqiang, etc. Except for Wenxian County, Gansu Province, the rest of the Minshan Mountains are distributed in Sichuan. In Sichuan, the main counties are Pingwu, Qingchuan and Beichuan, Jiuzhaigou County, Songpan, Mao County and other counties, and a small number of counties are Anxian, Mianzhu, Pengzhou, Shifang and Dujiangyan City. The main counties of the Qionglai Mountains are Baoxing, Wenchuan and Tianquan, the counties that are generally distributed are Dayi and Lushan, and the counties with only a small amount of distribution are Qionglai, Chongzhou, Kangding, Luding, etc. In addition to Hongya and Mianning, there are only a small number of counties with a small number of distributions, such as Yingjing, Asbestos, Hanyuan, Jiulong, etc. In addition to a certain number of Mabian, Meigu and Yuexi, there are only a small number of counties with a small distribution of Ganluo, Ebian and Leibo.
Mode of reproduction
Wild pandas inhabit dense forests, and they have to mate and give birth at a certain stage of growth, that is, estrus, courtship, mating, pregnancy and childbearing. Pandas usually live alone, but during the breeding season, males and females attract each other, and in the dense bamboo forest, they begin to carry out various courtship activities. Pandas are a multi-male contest system. They have a small number of litters in their lifetime, and it is not easy for their young to survive. Due to the high specialization of pandas in terms of reproductive capacity and child-rearing behavior, the growth of panda populations is very slow.
Female giant pandas are about 4 years old in captivity, male giant pandas are about 6 years old, and giant pandas in the wild are sexually mature a little later. Except for the estrus breeding season, giant pandas generally live alone at other times, each with its own area of activity.
copulation
Female giant pandas come into heat once a year, each time for only a short period of 2-3 days, and the estrus period is usually from March to May each year. Adult male and female giant pandas gradually gather in one place and understand and attract each other mainly through the communication mode of smell and smell (by leaving smell marks and smell marks), and at the climax of estrus, they express their love and achieve mating through continuous bleating, bird calls and waiting postures and other auditory and visual communication methods to mate and mate with each other. In the giant panda mating grounds, there are sometimes as many as 2-5 male giant pandas competing with the same female giant panda in succession, and there are also cases where only one male has mated with one female giant panda. Mating is mostly done on the ground and also on trees. At the mating site, there are also sub-adult and weak mating giant pandas watching and learning. The estrus behavior of male giant pandas occurs with the estrus behavior of female giant pandas, and also reaches climax with their climax. In the same estrus season, a male giant panda can mate with multiple female giant pandas, and a female giant panda can also accept multiple males to mate, so marriage in the giant panda world is poly-male and multi-female. After mating, the male and female pandas live separately again, and the work of pregnancy, childbirth and rearing is done by the female pandas alone.
Parenting
The gestation period of giant pandas is 83-200 days, and the cubs are usually born around August, and the nest where they are born is usually a hidden tree hole, or natural rock cave, with carefully laid branches and hay from the giant panda mother. For the sake of the safety of the next generation, the giant panda who gives birth to its mother has changed its docile temper in the past, and is very vigilant, not allowing any animal (including humans) to approach its sacrosanct little baby.
The most peculiar point of giant panda breeding is that its newborn is quite immature at birth, weighing only 0.1% of its mother's weight, and the newborn cub is very light, with an average newborn weight of about 145 grams, about one thousandth of the weight of an adult giant panda, the lightest is 51 grams, and the heaviest is 225 grams. Caring for a baby is a very difficult task for a female panda and usually lasts 18 months, sometimes up to two years, until her next baby is born.
Newborn pandas have pink skin with sparse white hair. During the first few weeks of its life, the mother panda will hold the baby in her arms, warm and protect it, barely leaving it, and holding it in her mouth when it moves. At this point, giant pandas in captivity are the same as giant pandas in the wild. If a giant panda mother is seen licking her child, it is likely that she is helping her child to defecate. During the period of giant panda rearing, the cry of the cub is a very important communication tool for the mother and cub to communicate with each other, and the cub wants to feed, want to defecate, suffer from cold or excessive heat or other reasons of discomfort, the cub reminds the mother animal to meet its different needs through different calls. After 1-2 weeks, the areas with long black hair begin to darken. Within a month, they slowly grew black ears, eye sockets, legs, and shoulder straps, becoming more like their mothers. When the pups are 6-8 weeks old, they can open their eyes and begin to teeth; After three months, you can crawl slowly.
In the wild, if twins are born (nearly 50% of twins are born in captivity), the mother panda usually ignores or rejects the weaker one, which ensures that at least one of them survives. In captivity, they are kept in captivity and use the technique of changing cubs to make all panda cubs survive as much as possible.
Conservation status
Protection level
Listed in Appendix I, Appendix II and Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2023 Edition.
Included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) on 11 April 2016:
2008 - Endangered.
It was included in the first level of China's "List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection" (February 5, 2021).
On February 28, 2015, the State Forestry Administration held a press conference to announce the results of the fourth national giant panda survey. The survey results show that by the end of 2013, the number of wild giant pandas in China reached 1,864, the number of captive giant pandas reached 375, the habitat area of wild giant pandas was 2.58 million hectares, and the potential habitat was 910,000 hectares, distributed in 17 cities (prefectures), 49 counties (cities, districts) and 196 towns in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The number of protected areas with panda distribution and habitat distribution increased to 67.
2016 – Vulnerable (VU).
In fact, its distribution area is limited to the southern slope of the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi, China, the Minshan Mountains at the junction of Gansu and Sichuan, and the Qionglai Mountains, Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling and Xiaoliang Mountains in Sichuan, inhabiting the mountain bamboo forests of deciduous broad-leaved forests, mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests and subalpine coniferous forests at an altitude of 1400-3600 meters, with a total area of 29,500 square kilometers. Each area is divided into smaller units due to human factors such as mountains, rivers or roads, cultivated land, etc., so that the actual area of habitat is less than 20% of the total area, only about 5,900 square kilometers. In total, there are 30 small populations in China, with a total of about 1,000 individuals. Among them, except for Wolong, Sichuan, each population is less than 50, and some have only more than 10. Fragmented habitats and isolated habitats are detrimental to the panda's reproduction and resistance to natural disasters.
Due to the inbreeding inevitable, the homozygous of recessive genes in giant pandas reduces the vitality of the offspring, and even deformities or death. This phenomenon is also a serious problem in the giant pandas in captivity in zoos, the vast majority of individuals come from the same wild area, so that many of the cubs bred in the zoo are deformed or stunted after birth, and most of them die early, making it difficult for the population to maintain and develop.
By the end of 2011, there were 333 pandas in captivity worldwide. There are only four units that can maintain a breeding population of more than 10 animals in Wolong, the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas, the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center, and the Beijing Zoo. The giant panda is a highly endangered species.
Population status
By the end of 2013, the national wild giant panda population reached 1,864, an increase of 16.8%.
As of November 2019, the global population of giant pandas in captivity reached 600.
On July 7, 2021, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference, and Cui Shuhong, director of the Department of Nature and Ecology Conservation of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced that the wild population of giant pandas has reached more than 1,800, and the threat level has been downgraded from endangered to vulnerable.
Because the giant panda is an extremely valuable natural and historical heritage in the world, it has important academic research value, and its survival and protection status have attracted the attention of the world. The fundamental measures for the protection of giant pandas are to protect the habitat of giant pandas, promote the breeding of giant pandas in the wild and in rearing giant pandas, improve and strengthen management methods, adopt scientific methods, create the necessary conditions for the survival of giant pandas, stabilize and develop the giant panda population, and develop and restore the potential habitat of giant pandas.
In March 2022, data showed that the number of giant pandas has increased from 1,114 in the seventies and eighties of the last century to 1,864, and the total number of captive pandas in the world is 673.
In 2015, monitoring data found that the distance between the traces of giant panda activities on both sides of the corridor of Zhouzhi National Nature Reserve has been shortened from 8.7 kilometers to about 2 kilometers, in 2018, giant pandas were photographed crossing National Highway 108 on the north side of the corridor, and in 2020 and 2022, photos and videos of giant panda activities were taken in the corridor area several times. In May 2023, when collecting and sorting out infrared camera data in the wild, the staff of the Banwu Conservation Station of the Zhouzhi National Nature Reserve Administration in Shaanxi Province found that the infrared camera deployed on the east side of National Highway 108 took photos of an adult giant panda activity. On May 27, the Sichuan Wolong National Nature Reserve Administration released a series of photos and videos of the world's only white giant panda that has been monitored, including its face and rare scenes such as its face and its frame with a pair of giant pandas, and its suspected mating and fighting with another wild giant panda.
On January 25, 2024, Zhang Yue, a second-level inspector of the Wildlife Conservation Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that the captive population of giant pandas has gradually expanded over the years, and the number of captive pandas in captivity worldwide has reached 728.
As of January 2021, China's wild giant panda population has increased to 1,864.
News on March 3, 2024: According to monitoring, the total wild population of giant pandas has increased from about 1,100 in the 80s of the 20th century to nearly 1,900 now.
On November 26, 2024, Guan Zhiou, director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that the global giant panda captive population has reached 757, and the wild population of giant pandas has grown to about 1,900.
In March 2025, according to the latest monitoring results, the total wild population of giant pandas has increased from about 1,100 in the 80s of the 20th century to nearly 1,900.
Causes of endangerment
Due to the blind activities of humans, their habitats have been destroyed, resulting in the reduction of their habitat area. The habitat is destroyed, forming islands that are not connected to each other, leading to population fragmentation, inbreeding, and species degradation. The giant panda population is distributed in more than 25 isolated habitats in the form of islands. The size of these isolated habitats is 205 square kilometres (range 30-2384 km), with most (67 per cent) covering an area of less than 350 square kilometres. The isolation and fragmentation of such populations is an important factor that threatens their populations in the long term, and the inbreeding decline of small populations will reduce fecundity, larval survival and disease resistance. Eventually, the "island" members will disappear. According to the genetic analysis of the Qinling panda population, there are more than 200 giant pandas, which can constitute a breeding population of about 90 individuals, and the descending rate of heterozygosity rate is 0.54%, after 12 generations, that is, after 140 years, each member will have 1/8 of the same gene, which is equivalent to the genetic relationship of cousins (cousins).
Mineral exploitation without government permission, pollution, and logging and hunting by miners in the panda habitat are also threatened. Deforestation. At least 10,000 hectares of giant panda habitat are harvested annually. Its habitat is disappearing at a rate of about 2.5 square kilometers per year. The population of the giant panda in Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan provinces in China has doubled, reaching more than 430,000 people, and the number of large-scale forest industry enterprises has reached 27 (excluding county-owned logging sites) from 1950 to 1985, and the area of forest has been verified to be more than 420,000 hectares, and the average annual logging area is more than 20,000 hectares, resulting in the habitat from 31,450 square kilometers in the early 70s to 13,921.52 square kilometers after 15 years, a reduction of 17,528.48 square kilometers, accounting for 56% of the original habitat As a result, pandas disappeared in 6 logging areas, and only a few pandas remained in 10 logging areas, and the population declined sharply.
Capture too much. For example, before 1949, in the grassy slope of Wenchuan County, the United Kingdom, the United States and other Western countries purchased and captured more than 20 live animals (hunters were outside), resulting in the giant panda population there has been more than 50 years, the number is still very small, and has not yet recovered. Another example is Baoxing County, since 1963, more than 113 giant pandas have been captured in one county alone. Since the mid-50s, more than 240 pandas have been captured from the wild to be exhibited at home and abroad, of which more than 110 are concentrated in Baoxing and more than 60 in Pingwu, resulting in the destruction of the population structure of these two counties and a significant decline in numbers. According to the analysis of the giant panda's life table, it takes about 12 years for them to be in a generation, and the population growth is very slow, and if it is caught in large quantities, it will take decades to recover, even if it is well protected.
Due to the expansion of human activities, the giant panda was forced to retreat to the top of the mountain, the bamboo species is very simple, once the bamboo blooms, there will be no room for maneuver, only in 1975 the arrow bamboo in the Minshan area bloomed, and the death reached more than 138; In the 80s, the cold arrow bamboo in Qionglai Mountain bloomed in a large area, and 108 giant panda carcasses were found after the disaster, and 33 died after the rescue, a total of 141. Pandas have a single food source and only eat bamboo, and due to the destruction of habitats, their only food bamboo, is destroyed in a large area, and once the bamboo is destroyed, its survival will be affected. Bamboo itself also blooms in large areas, so the lack of food is also one of the reasons.
The panda's own reproductive ability is reduced, its reproductive system is infected by certain bacteria, the egg-laying rate of females is reduced, and the desire of males to mate is reduced, which is also a major reason for the imminent extinction of pandas. Giant pandas only give birth to a few offspring in their lifetime, and generally only reproduce once every two years, and only two red pandas will be born in one litter, and female pandas do not have the energy to feed them all. The low survival rate of baby pandas, the strong dependence of pandas on their habitat, and their poor adaptability to environmental changes are all reasons why giant pandas are on the verge of extinction.
Protective measures
In 1992, China's State Planning Commission approved the State Forestry Administration to organize and implement the 10-year "China Giant Panda and Their Habitat Protection Project". A lot of work has been carried out in the implementation of the project, such as background resource investigation, infrastructure construction, comprehensive personnel capacity building, protection publicity and education, rescue and monitoring of giant panda resources, and research on artificial breeding and breeding, and positive progress has been made. The project focuses on the establishment of giant panda nature reserves, and plans to improve the construction and management of 13 giant panda nature reserves from 1992 to 2002. 14 new giant panda nature reserves; construction of 17 giant panda conservation corridors; Establish giant panda habitat protection and management stations in 32 counties; Strengthen scientific research focusing on giant panda captivity, breeding and ecological research.
In 1998, the state began to organize and implement the "Natural Forest Protection Project", which completely banned the logging of natural forests in western provinces and regions, including Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, and abolished or converted state-owned forest industry enterprises, which played a very key role in the protection of rare and endangered wild animals such as giant pandas and their habitats.
In December 2001, as one of the six major forestry projects in the country, the State Forestry Administration launched the "National Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Construction Project", and once again listed the giant panda and its habitat protection as a key protected species and continued to give key protection.
The administrative management system for giant panda conservation in China is formed by the top-down management bodies of the central, provincial, municipal (prefecture), county and nature reserves. The State Forestry Administration is in charge of the national conservation of giant pandas, and local forestry authorities at all levels are responsible for the protection and management of giant pandas within their respective jurisdictions. Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces have set up wildlife protection and management agencies in 16 cities and 45 counties where giant pandas are distributed to be responsible for the conservation of giant pandas in their jurisdictions. With the care and support of governments at all levels and all sectors of society, the protection of giant pandas and their habitats across the country has achieved remarkable results. The forestry departments of provinces, cities (prefectures) and counties (cities) have basically established full-time (part-time) protection institutions, and infrastructure construction, personnel capacity building, patrol, rescue, monitoring, community co-management, foreign exchanges and cooperation are all developing steadily.
Ex situ conservation of giant pandas is a beneficial supplement to the in-situ conservation of giant pandas, that is, the individual giant pandas in the wild are used as the builders of the population, and the captive population is developed under artificial conditions to achieve the minimum scale that can be self-sustaining. When the captive population reaches a certain level, preparations for the release of captive individuals into the wild should be carried out in a timely manner, and finally a positive interaction between ex situ conservation and in situ conservation should be established. A national captive giant panda breeding and development system has been basically formed, with the China Conservation and Giant Panda Research Center in Wolong, Sichuan as the leader, the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan, the Louguantai Giant Panda Rescue Center in Shaanxi Province and the Beijing Zoo as the focus.
After the captive population of giant pandas has achieved substantial development, the Chinese government has launched experiments on the release of giant pandas into the wild in due course. In July 2003, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda put the giant panda "Xiangxiang" bred in captivity into an artificially controlled natural environment for three years of rewilding training to improve its ability to survive in the wild. In August 2005, the State Forestry Administration and the Sichuan Provincial Government put the giant panda "Shenglin No. 1" rescued in Dujiangyan into the Longxi Hongkou Nature Reserve, and used the GPS collar that regularly falls off automatically to track and locate and monitor it, so as to further understand and master the wild life habits and activities of giant pandas, understand the adaptation of rescued giant pandas to the unfamiliar environment, and lay the foundation for the release of captive individuals. In April 2006, after three years of training, the giant panda "Xiangxiang" was officially put into the pure wild environment of the Wolong Reserve, and the results of the three-year training were tested, and the "training instead of release" was implemented, which was the first time that China's captive giant pandas were put into the wild in a planned way, marking the beginning of the transformation of giant panda conservation work from strengthening wild rescue and strengthening artificial captivity to a new stage of wild release.
Regarding wild giant pandas, Daxiangling, located at the junction of Yingjing County and Hanyuan County in Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, has continuous mountains and an average annual temperature of about 15.0 °C-17.6 °C, which is cool and quiet, and there are 28 wild giant pandas living there.
In 2021, the Giant Panda National Park was officially established, spanning the three provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, and crisscrossing five mountain systems. Among them, 47% of the county area of Yingjing County, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province is included. The Yingjing County Management and Protection Station of the Giant Panda National Park has the world's largest giant panda rewilding base, which is extremely important. Their tasks include monitoring the dynamics of giant panda populations, co-habitat distribution, habitat restoration, and various special survey activities.
In 2023, with the support of the SEE Foundation, HSBC and other parties, the environmental protection project "Panda Comes Home" will continue to carry out habitat restoration work of 1,200 acres at the four protected area project sites of Daxiangling, Liziping, Shenguozhuang and Xiaozhaizigou. With the assistance and recognition of a number of experts, the SEE Foundation and the Giant Panda National Park jointly issued a standardized operational guidance document for habitat restoration.
According to the news released by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration on January 25, 2024, the wild population of giant pandas in China has steadily increased from about 1,100 in the 80s of the last century to nearly 1,900 today.
Relevant knowledge
Genetic profiling
On October 11, 2008, BGI announced the completion of the world's first giant panda genome map. Scientists say it will provide new avenues for the conservation and artificial breeding of an endangered species known as China's national treasure, as well as advance other scientific research on giant pandas.
In March 2008, the international "Giant Panda Genome Research" project, initiated by Chinese scientists and jointly participated by scientists from Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark and other countries, was launched. BGI's self-developed genome-wide assembly software and self-built high-performance computers have played a key role in this. Scientists selected the giant panda "Jingjing", one of the prototypes of the mascot of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for genome sequencing, and has been living in the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base.
Studies have found that giant pandas have a total of 21 pairs of chromosomes, and their genome size is similar to that of humans, about 3 billion base pairs, containing 2-30,000 genes. The results of genome sequencing support the idea that the giant panda is a subfamily of the bear family. By comparing it with species that have already undergone whole-genome sequencing, the researchers also found that the giant panda genome is the closest in structure to the genome of dogs, and has greater similarities with humans, and is quite different from mice in mammals.
The mapping of the panda genome will help solve the question of why pandas are so reproductive, giving scientists the opportunity to help breed more pandas. Also involved in the research were Shenzhen University, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, China Giant Panda Research Center, Fudan University, and the University of Hong Kong. A joint research project on the function and structure of the giant panda's proteome with Nankai University will also be launched soon.
WWF Logo
WWF is the abbreviation of World Wild Fund for Nature. In 1986, WWF changed its name to "World Wide Fund for Nature" to indicate the expansion of its activities, recognizing that its original name, World Wildlife Fund, no longer reflected the scope of the organization's activities. Only a handful of branches, including those in the United States, still use the old name World Wildlife Fund. In order to eliminate confusion due to differences in countries and languages, the name "WWF, the global conservation organization" is uniformly called.
As a well-known symbol of WWF, the giant panda is widely used around the world and is well known to the world. In 1961, the giant panda "Xixi" went to the London Zoo in the United Kingdom to borrow an exhibition, causing a scene of thousands of empty alleys. Recognizing that an impactful logo can overcome all language barriers, the WWF unanimously endorsed the idea of a giant panda as the organization's symbol. Since then, the adorable giant panda has become an icon of the global nature conservation movement. WWF's Panda logo is a registered trademark, and no person or entity may use this logo without permission. WWF's partners may be granted the right to use this logo.
