Giant Panda Habitat:
How Much Is Enough?
Pandas are solitary animals, shunning the company of other pandas except during the
mating season. Studies over the past few decades have dramatically increased our
knowledge of the natural history and habits of giant pandas. We are beginning to
understand what is required to keep the species alive.
Restore habitat.
Studies by China's Ministry of Forestry have shown that the
forests where pandas live are still rapidly disappearing. Since 1973, nearly half of the remaining panda habitat has been cut or heavily disturbed. Expansion of this habitat is a first priority for species survival. A critical aspect of this is the replanting of local species of trees and bamboo.
Reduce human activities in existing panda habitat.
This includes
controlling poaching and agricultural encroachment, as well as modifying and restricting logging methods in protected forests to maintain a balance between forest production and panda survival.
Reconnect isolated forest patches.
Reserves need to be contiguous,
or else connected by "corridors" of forest that will allow pandas and other species to move from one area to another. For pandas, connections of this kind will ensure genetic diversity and provide for continuing food supplies during periods of local bamboo die-off.
If these goals can be realized, giant pandas can be saved from extinction in the wild. This same approach to creating viable reserves can serve as a model for other conservation efforts. In this way, giant pandas can serve as a "flagship species" not only for the plants and animals in their immediate habitat, but for endangered species throughout the world.
Natural History Museums & the Real Thing
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