China Giant Panda FAQs

1. How many pandas are left in the world?
China currently has about 1,000 giant pandas in the wild, most of them living on the mountains around the Sichuan Basin, southwest China according to the Ministry of Forestry.

2. What is being done to save giant pandas?
Currently, the Chinese government in conjunction with the WWF are doing all that is possible to save the giant panda. This includes further research on how to manipulate bamboo to be sturdier and faster to recover after die-off cycles.

In addition the following is being done:

• Conservation education and public awareness activities.
• International breeding programs in zoos around the world.
• Creation of 14 new panda reserves in China bringing the total of giant panda reserves to 26.
• Corridors, forest links, between the isolated populations are being constructed to help increase the range in which the panda lives in order that the exchange of genetic material between wild populations will increase.
• Continued research and artificial insemination of giant pandas in an to attempt to continually increase their numbers.

3. What are giant panda's enemies?
Man is the giant panda's most dangerous. The adult giant panda has very few natural enemies. One of the known enemies of the giant panda is the snow leopard, which may seize a baby panda that has wondered away from it's mother or a pack of wild dogs may also capture a wondering cub.
The continued population growth in China slowly and steadily depletes the bamboo forests and replaces them with cities or additional farming areas.
To a lesser degree the Bamboo Rat which burrows underground, eats the roots of the bamboo growth which obviously kills the plant, leaving one less plant for the giant panda to eat.

4. What is the life span of a giant panda?
The average life span of the giant panda, in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have been known to live well into their 20's and rarely into their 30's.

5. How does that giant panda protect itself against its enemies?
Giant pandas signify aggression by lowering their heads and staring at their opponents. The giant panda is a generally a passive animal and not initiate to attack man or other animals. Giant pandas, however can become violent when provoked or surprised. Generally when hearing abnormal sounds the giant panda will escape the area immediately or they will climb the nearest tree. Should they become trapped the giant panda will cover their face with their paws often hiding its eye-patches and curl up. This gesture states that they are scared and/or angry. At close range, aggression is signaled by a swipe with a paw, or by a low-pitched growl or bark that will generally send an opponent (another giant panda) scampering up the nearest tree.

6. Why are giant pandas endangered?
Habitat encroachment and destruction are the greatest threats to the continued existence of the giant panda. This is mainly because of the demand for land and natural resources by China's one billion plus inhabitants. In addition giant pandas are also susceptible to poaching, or illegal killing, as their dense fur carries a high price in the black markets in the Far East.

7. How can I help save or assist in financing research for giant pandas?
You can adopt the giant panda in four places south China's Sichuan Province: the Wolong Natural Reserve, Fengtongzhai Natural Reserve, Chengdu Zoo, Chengdu Research and Breeding Base of Giant Panda.