Giant Panda - Treasure of China

GIANT PANDA-TREASURE OF CHINA

Giant Pandas with its unique black and white coat inhabits the cold, coniferous forest at elevations from 4,000 to 11,000 feet in China.They are the most powerful symbol in species conservation.Adult panda weighs about 100-150kg and grow up to 150cm.They have the digestive system of a carnivore, but adapted to a vegetarian diet of bamboos and a panda can eat 12-38kg of bamboo a day. As bamboo has very little nutritional value,so pandas has to eat in huge quantities every day to meet their energy needs.

They are considered a member of the bear familybut they dont hibernate de to non-supply of abundant food though they come down to lower elevations in winter due availability of more food.Interestingly,pandas have very small territories of only 1.5 - 2.5 square miles. Their habitat is very restricted now and found in certain provinces namely Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu of China.Pandas can climb treesand they find home in places like cavity in trees or rock. crevices.Pandas also eat other plants and small animals.Giant pandas are the symbol of WWF since 1961.A female mates with several males, who compete with each other to mate with her.The mating season is in spring between March and May.Litters can be twins or triplets, but usually only single cubs are raised.The wild population of giant panda is about 1000 individuals, with around 100 individuals in zoos in China and around the world.

Threats faced by giant pandas are-

China's ever growing population is major threat leading to other linked threats. Habitat loss-conversion of forests to agricultural areas,medicinal herb collection,
poaching, and large-scale development activities such as road construction and mining.
Besides natural problems like pandas do not have many offspring during their lifetimeor their dependence on bamboo as the diet,problems created by humans are posing serious threat to their survival.Giant pandas fetch very high price in market so poaching is rampant. The penalty for such an offense may be death, though.The giant panda is listed as endangered in the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals.
Conservation Efforts-
The Chinese government has established12 nature preserves having abundant bamboo,the basic diet of giant pandas.Pandas are being introduced to new areas in order to expand its habitat. Bamboo corridors, have been developed to let pandas migrate from one area to another.Efforts are made to establish more nature reserves, create bamboo corridors to link isolated pandas,curb the poaching problems.
The World Wide Fund for Animals (WWF), is contributing in a great way in research and conservation of giant pandas which is used as logo by this organisation whose logo is a giant panda.WWF is using latest technology like Geographic Information Systems technology to survey remaining giant panda habitats.So despite the habitat destruction in a very large the population of pandas in wild remains about 1000 animals.

RED PANDAS -

Red Pandas also named as Cat bear, are the extremely beautiful,solitary,secretive mammals inhabiting the cool temperate bamboo forests in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces in China, in the Himalayas, and in Myanmar.In India, they are found in the temperate forests of the Himalayas above 1525 m.The length is about 60 cm and weighs about three to four kg.Their red-and-white They share part of their range with giant pandas. Red pandas sleeps during the daytime and has a bear-like body with thick russet fur..Panda are known to live for 12 to 14 years in the wild.Red pandas also feeds on bamboo,but also not exclusively and also feasts on berries, lichens and sometimes eggs and young birds.About 2500 animals are believed to exist in the wild and are endangered because of habitat loss. The body markings of the red pandas blend with the red mosses and white lichens that grow on the trees in which they live.

The females give birth to one to four young ones.Once red panda was believed to be the relative of giant panda but now it is believed that giant pandas are bears, but relatives of red pandas' are not clear.Red pandas can be spotted in the Mouling National Park, Arunachal Pradesh,India.But it is rarely seen in the wild and habitat loss is major threat to their survival like all other forms of wildlife.