Why Are Giant Pandas Endangered

Touring pandas get better protection

CHENGDU - New regulations were issued to protect pandas loaned out for exhibitions in China, banning the collection of blood or semen, or loaning the pandas to a third party during the exhibition period.

"It is a comprehensive regulation, exclusive to the exhibition of giant pandas in China, aiming to provide more protection for the endangered animals," Zhang Shanning, an official at the State Forestry Administration, told China Daily on Monday.

He said the measures were preventive and not a response to the injury of giant pandas.

"No giant pandas were injured or died due to blood and semen collection during their exhibition in China. No reports of loaning to a third party have been reported," he said.

Giant pandas can be exhibited for purposes such as raising public awareness of environmental protection or celebrating major activities, like the Olympic Games in Beijing or the Expo in Shanghai, Zhang said. Exhibitions with the sole purpose of making money would be prohibited under the new regulation, which takes effect on Sept 1.

"Zoos, which are the majority of exhibition organizers, are forbidden from having extra fees when visitors go to see the loaned pandas," Zhang said. "But the Beijing Zoo is an exception. It needs an extra fee for its panda house for historical reasons."

In the second half of 2010, three deaths of giant pandas due to disease or accident had been reported during their exhibition period in zoos in Beijing, Nanjing and Jinan.

Zhang Hemin, chief of the administrative bureau of the Wolong Natural Reserve, confirmed that they took every effort to protect the endangered species.

"Never did we loan giant pandas to unqualified zoos."

The new regulation stated that only artificially bred pandas would be put on exhibition.

Giant pandas younger than two years old or older than 25 years old would also not be put on exhibition.

Qiu Jian, an official in charge of protection of wild animals of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Forestry, said most loaned pandas were provided by Sichuan province, which is home to about 260 captive-bred giant pandas, accounting for more than 83 percent in the world.

"Actually, such restrictions on exhibition organizers had been listed in the contract when we loaned giant pandas. But now they will become regulations, giving harsher punishment to anyone who violates them. This will protect giant pandas better," Qiu said.

Endangered Animals on Earth – Part II | Rare Animals

Giant Panda

Considered one of the top 10 endangered animals in the world, the World Wildlife Fund has made the Giant Panda a symbol of conservation and hope. They are among the rarest of the bear family and are found in China. They have a distinct black and white fur coat. The black patches are along the ears, eye, muzzle, legs, shoulders, and arms. Their coat provides an effective camouflage that blends well with their rocky and snowy environment. Its thickness provides ample insulation against the harsh cold weather. They have large molar teeth that are used in crushing bamboo, their main diet.

Giant pandas are hunted down for their meat and fur.  The Chinese population boom in the 1940s led to the encroachment of the panda’s habitat, fragmentation of land due to agriculture, as well as the increase in poaching for its meat.

Amur Leopard

The Amur Leopard is considered the most endangered wild cat in the world with a remaining population of only about 30-35. They face a critically high risk of facing extinction. They are native predators of the mountainous areas of the Korean, Northeast Chinese and Far East Russian forests. The females are smaller than the males weighing at about 25-43 Kilograms compared to the 60-75 Kilograms males.

Among the threats of endangerment to the species are poaching, deforestation, infrastructure developments like railways that destroy the animal’s habitat, scarcity of food, vulnerability of the remaining small population size, and human conflict.

Fin Whale

Fin Whales are the sixth largest living animal in the world, the second longest whale, and one of the top 10 endangered animal on earth. They can grow to about 22-26 meters and adult can weigh from 36,000 to 80,000 Kilograms. Females measure 5-10% longer than the males. They feed mainly on crustaceans, squids, schooling fish. They are found on all major oceans and is non-existent only in ice-packed areas. They are migratory in nature in search of an abundant source of food, but their migration behavior and pattern is not so well-understood, thus there’s a difficulty in estimating its total population. Fin whales are sociable creatures usually composed of 2-7 in a feeding group.

Conservation efforts are established to reduce trap/pot fishery that most likely injures and endangers the Fin Whale’s mortality rate. Human-caused habitat deterioration like reef destruction, pollution, other threatening practices have contributed to the rapid decrease in the Fin Whale’s population. The decline in its food source is also a detrimental factor.

Endangered Pandas

Giant Pandas

Asia

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