Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Animal Research – The Giant Panda

Introduction
The Giant Panda is a mammal classified in the bear family (Ursidae), native to central-western and southwestern China. The Giant Panda was previously thought to be a member of the Procyonidae (raccoon) family.
The Giant Panda is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. It is about 1.2 - 1.5 meters in length and weighs 75 - 160 kg. Though belonging to the order Carnivora, the Giant Panda has a diet which is 99% bamboo. The Giant Panda may eat other foods such as honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, and bananas when available.

Where they are found (Habitat)

The giant panda has been declining for thousands of years due to hunting by humans and climatic changes. Its populations originally extended throughout most of southern and eastern China, northern Myanmar, and northern Vietnam. In ancient China it was already considered rare! By 1900, it could only be found in one region: the Qinling Mountains and along the edge of the Tibetan plateau.


Giant pandas live in broadleaf and coniferous forests with a dense covering of bamboo, at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. They are found mostly in the bamboo forests in the mountains of central Peoples Republic of China, including the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan.


How many there were (The current Numbers)

The giant panda is listed as endangered in the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals. It is one of the most critically endangered species in the world. There are about 1,000 left in the wild. About 140 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, mostly in China.


The majority of the surviving (approximately 25) wild giant panda populations have fewer than 20 individuals.


What has led them to becoming endangered?

Some of the problems they face are natural, but some are caused by humans.

The major factors contributing to habitat loss and destruction — the most pressing threats to the giant panda — are:
• conversion of forests to agricultural areas,
• medicinal herb collection,
• bamboo harvesting,
• poaching, and
• large-scale development activities such as road construction, hydropower development, and mining.

Pandas do not have many offspring during their lifetime. Although the adults have few predators besides man, the cubs are very small and may be attacked by leopards.

Another problem is their diet. Bamboo grows in large patches, and different types of bamboo flower in different years. After it flowers, the bamboo dies back, leaving nothing behind to be eaten. Pandas must travel from one good patch to another to find food. Pandas have to travel to find new patches, and sometimes human-built villages are in the way as they move from patch to patch

What have been done to conserve them / what could be done to conserve them?

To save panda habitat, the Chinese government has set aside 12 nature preserves where bamboo flourishes and giant pandas are known to live. Fragile panda habitat are being protected from development by people and also from damage caused by cattle, sheep and goats as they graze on any emerging seedlings and trample the thin mountain soil.

Efforts are being made to introduce pandas to new areas not currently occupied by it in order to expand its habitat. Strips of land, called bamboo corridors, have been created to help pandas migrate or move from one area to another. This technique opens more habitats to pandas. When pandas move greater distances to find mates, they can spread their genes further in the population

A logging ban declared at the end of 1998 has put most panda habitat off-limits to commercial logging. Alternative forest uses that would be more ecologically friendly, such as commercial mushroom farming and ecotourism, are being evaluated.

Conclusion

Giant Pandas are important because they eat so much bamboo, there would never be an overgrowth. This helps to keep certain mountainous ecosystems balanced.

Giant pandas are also important because they are living things too, and they deserve to live on earth just as we humans do.


Society needs to start caring for our environment and the creatures that inhabit it. We could try to stop deforestation (one of the many reasons Giant Pandas are endangered). As a world of people united through our communities, we could all do our part to protest against pollution, over-development, and most of all poaching – all of which contributes and adds to the slow but steady decline of the Giant Panda.

A small gesture we as students could do is to either sponsor a panda or even adopt one! Such an act may seem small but goes a long way in saving our beloved adorable Giant Pandas!

We can also help in many other ways. For example, we could learn enough information about Giant Pandas so that we can come up with our own ways to help. We can also use that knowledge to convince other people to help save these magnificent animals. Finally, we can communicate with higher authorities to persuade them to do something to help these gracious animals. Perhaps persuade the school into creating a community school fund to go to the conservation of this beautiful animal.

Did you know?

• Pandas have excellent night vision?
• They also have very powerful legs to help kick down bamboo trees
• They have a highly developed sense of smell that males use to avoid each other and to find females for mating in the spring.
• Panda cubs are born all white and their world-renowned colours are developed later as they grow older.
• Pandas are often seen eating in a relaxed sitting posture, with their hind legs stretched out before them.
• They may appear inactive, but they are skilled tree-climbers and efficient swimmers.


References
http://www.animalinfo.org/species/carnivor/ailumela.htm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/giant-panda.html
http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/studshow/pinegrovems/samanthabkatlinb/giant_pandas.htm
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/panda/37997.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Panda
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/species/about_species/species_factsheets/giant_panda/problems/
http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/panda.html



Done by Emmil Ong Si Ming

Posted by 6H' blog at 11:16 PM