What chance do you see of the Giant Panda's survival?
Giant Panda
Hsing-Hsing at the National Zoo (1986)
Photo courtesy of Smithsonian
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Staff at the National Zoo, Washington DC, USA are celebrating the arrival of their latest giant panda cub, the first born at the zoo for 16 years, and are hoping that it will survive. Mei Xiang has taken to motherhood already. The father is Tian Tian, but artificial insemination was used. None of the babies born earlier at the zoo to the now-deceased father Hsing-Hsing and mother Ling-Ling survived. Only two pandas born in the USA have survived, those born at the San Diego Zoo in 1999 and 2003.
There are only about 1,600 giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) left in the wild, with a further 120 in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and around 20 abroad. As female pandas can only conceive for about 2 days each year, and artificial insemination is only successful about half the time, baby Giant pandas are rare.
Giant pandas now live only in the damp broadleaf and coniferous mountain forests of central China. They eat mostly bamboo, which is available at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. They suffer from habit loss and poaching, and their low birth rates means that they cannot easily or quickly recover their numbers. The males at up to 250 pounds are more than 30 pounds heavier than the females. They are between two and three feet tall at the shoulder when standing on all four paws. Giant pandas can live up to 35 years in zoos. Females at best can produce only 5 to 8 cubs in their lifetime, with each cub staying with her for up to 3 years.
Giant pandas eat virtually only bamboo in the wild (12-38 kg a day), but do get a little more variety in zoos. With such a specialised diet, it is perhaps surprising that they have survived for several million years, but there is little competition for the bamboo. Eating bamboo is hard, specialist work and the pandas spend around half their day on bamboo and half sleeping. They do not hibernate. They get much of their water from the bamboo itself, but also drink from streams.
The Chinese government has proclaimed over 50 reserves for giant pandas covering over 16,000 km² of forest: 36 in Sichuan, 13 in Shannxi Province and one in Gansu, but only around 61% of the population (980 pandas) are in reserves, and the habitat of the rest remains under threat.
Pandas have been given by China to countries around the world to cement political ties, or loaned in return for money for conservation projects, with baby pandas being returned to China.
The panda has been adopted as the logo of the WWF.
Reproductive History of Giant Pandas
National Zoo in Washington Panda history. There have been several births, but no survivals. The most recent birth occurred on July 9.
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