Pandamonium - Raising Awareness for the Plight of The Panda and How YOU Can Help

This is my attempt at spreading the love for Giant Pandas.  Giant Pandas are a greatly admired species and are considered to be one of China’s national treasures.  Sadly however, at the moment Giant Pandas are an incredibly endangered species, threatened by habitat loss, poaching and very low birth rates, and are protected under appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 

They are a conservation-reliant species, meaning that they need the help of humans to ensure their future survival; this includes wildlife management intervention such as habitat management, parasite control and breeding programs, specifically aimed at the Giant Panda species.  It is estimated that there are approximately 1500 – 2000 Giant Pandas currently living in the wild and more than 180 living in captivity.

The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a member of the bear family but is in fact a single species.  It is a mammal native exclusively to China and can be found living in mountainous areas in the Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces of central China.  Due to the growing amount of land development in China the Giant Panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

The Giant Panda is instantly recognizable by its large size, distinctive black and white features and its cute and cuddly exterior!   Adult pandas measure around 1.5 m long and males can weigh up to 150 kg (females are generally smaller than their male counterparts).   At birth a baby panda typically weighs 100 – 200g and measures 15 – 17 cm long (the mother is 900 times the size of her baby!)  They are of typical bear-shape with black fur on their ears, muzzle, legs, shoulders, and around their eyes, the rest of their coat is white.  It is unknown why these bears have such unusual colouring.  Their coat is thick and woolly enabling them to keep warm in their cool and often wet and misty habitat.  They have a tail measuring approximately 150mm long and very strong jaws for crushing tough bamboo.  The Giant Panda's paw also has a "thumb" which is actually a modified sesamoid bone, which helps the Giant Panda to hold bamboo while eating.  In captivity pandas usually live 25 – 30 years (a panda in Wuhan Zoo in central China lived to be 37 years old, holding the record for the oldest panda to have ever lived!).

The Giant Panda is actually classified as a carnivore; however its diet consists almost exclusively of bamboo.  Despite its mainly plant-based diet the Giant Panda has the digestive system of a carnivore and has been known to eat fish, insects and small animals.  Because of its carnivorous digestive system the Giant Panda is unable to digest bamboo efficiently, deriving very little energy from it.  Therefore the average Giant Panda eats as much as 20 to 30 pounds of bamboo shoots per day in order to get enough nourishment from its diet.  In the wild they spend 11 to 14 hours a day foraging for food.  In captivity they are also fed specially-prepared dietary supplements.

Giant Pandas reach sexual maturity at an average age of 6 years old and may reproduce up until the age of 20.  Giant Pandas have a notoriously low birth rate which has played a major role in making them an endangered species.  Recently researchers have had some success with captive breeding programs, and artificial insemination is often used.  Normally a female Giant Panda has a cub every 2 years.  The mating season only happens once a year and spans between March and May, with the female being fertile for 2 – 7 days during this time.  The gestation period (or the pregnancy) normally lasts for anything between 95 to 160 days.  The number of babies per litter is only 1 or 2 cubs; often if more than one baby is born the mother will abandon the second.  When a cub is first born, it is pink, furless, blind and extremely small (about 100 – 200g), although they grow at quite a fast rate.  To begin with the newborn cub will nurse from its mother 6 to 14 times a day.  The mother’s milk remains the primary source of food for the first year of the baby panda’s life; however after 6 months they are able to eat small quantities of bamboo.  At one year, Giant Panda cubs weigh around 45kg and continue to live with their mother until they are 18 months to 2 years old.

The Giant Panda is a mostly solitary animal and each has its own defined territory marked by sprayed urine and/or clawed trees.  Females are not tolerant of other females in their territory and social encounters with other Giant Pandas only really occur during the breeding season.  After mating the male panda leaves the female to raise the offspring alone.  They communicate with each other via bleats, squeals, grunts, growls and barks.  Giant Pandas do not establish permanent dens and do not hibernate; instead they spend their lives roaming the mountains searching for food.  The Giant Panda is assumed to be docile; however, they have been known to attack humans and livestock, although this is not because of predatory behavior.

In the 1970s Giant Pandas were loaned to zoos in America and Japan, marking the beginning of cultural exchanges between China and the western world, thus coining the phrase “Panda Diplomacy”.

In January 2009 two Giant Pandas named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names together mean “reunion”, were given as a goodwill gift to Taiwan from China.

The main threat to the survival of the Giant Panda species is habitat loss as the areas in which they live is becoming continually smaller due to various human civilization developments such as logging, farming and road-building.

Another treat to Giant Pandas is poaching.  During the 1980s and 1990s several cases of panda poaching were reported.  However due to the Giant Panda’s protected status it is now illegal to hunt pandas, with strict laws and punishments for offenders, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison (and this is getting off lightly, before the Criminal Law of China was changed in 1997 a person convicted of panda poaching could face execution!).

The government in China has established a network of nature reserves protecting approximately half of the wild panda population.  Currently there are 33 panda reserves with five in the Shaanxi Province, two in the Gansu Province (the largest panda reserve in China is the Baishuijiang Reserve in Gansu), and the rest in the Sichuan Province.

In 1998 the Chinese government also declared a ban on logging in an attempt to alleviate one of the biggest threats to the panda species and also to help with overall forest protection.

China also has a large captive breeding program, in the hope of eventually re-introducing captive pandas into the wild.  The largest breeding center is the Wolong Panda Breeding Center in Wolong Nature Reserve; currently it is home to about 50 captive Giant Pandas.  Unfortunately, as of yet no captive pandas have been reintroduced into the wild.

Now that you’ve gained a little extra panda knowledge you may wish to give their species a helping hand. Whether you want to help save the pandas or whether you simply want to see one in the flesh there are several options open to you. If simply seeing a real live panda bear is your goal, you can visit one of the various zoos around the world that currently are home to Giant Pandas (and you don’t have to go the whole way to China to do it!). The following locations contain more than just your average bear….

In Asia…

• Adventure World, Shirahama, Wakayama – home to 9 Giant Pandas, including 8 males and 2 females
• Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, Sichuan, China– Home to a number of captive Giant Pandas. Twelve cubs were born here in 2006
• China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda at the Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan, China – Seventeen cubs were born here in 2006
• Chiang Mai Zoo, Chiang Mai, Thailand – home to couple Chuang Chuang (Male), Lin Hui (Female), and there cub, Lin Bing, a female born May 27, 2009
• Taipei Zoo, Taipei, Taiwan – home to Tuan Tuan (Male) and Yuan Yuan (Female).
• Ocean Park, Hong Kong – home to 4 Giant Pandas
• Oji Zoo, Kobe, Hyōgo – home to one male and one female Giant Pandas
• Beijing Zoo, China - home of the internationally notorious Gu Gu.

In Australia…

• Adelaide Zoo, Adelaide – future home to Wangwang (Male) and Funi (Female). They will go on display on December 14, 2009.

In Europe…

• Zoologischer Garten Berlin, Berlin, Germany – home of Bao Bao, age 27, the oldest male panda living in captivity; he has been in Berlin for 25 years and has never reproduced.
• Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria – home to couple Yang Yang (Female) and Long Hui (Male) and their cub, Fu Long (Male), born on August 23, 2007 at the zoo. The cub was the first to be born in Europe in 25 years.
• Zoo Aquarium, Madrid, Spain – home of 2 Giant Pandas
• Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland - currently in negotiations with the Wolong Nature Preserve to obtain two Giant Pandas.

In North America…

• Chapultepec Zoo, Mexico City – home of 3 female Giant
• San Diego Zoo, San Diego, California – home of Bai Yun (Female), Gao Gao (Male), Su Lin (Female), and Zhen Zhen (Female), and a cub (Male) born in August, 2009.
• US National Zoo, Washington, D.C. – home of couple Mei Xiang (Female), Tian Tian (Male), and their offspring Tai Shan (Male)
• Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia – home of 2 females and two males
• Memphis Zoo, Memphis, Tennessee – home of Ya Ya (Female) and Le Le (Male)

However, if it’s getting a bit closer to the action that you want then I am delighted to inform you that it is possible to take part in a volunteer tour to the Giant Panda Research Center in China where you would have the opportunity to observe, interact with and help with the care of Giant Pandas.  More information about such tours is available from the following links and although expensive, it would be well worth the money for a once in a lifetime experience!

http://www.poshjourneys.com/panda_bear_tour.htm

http://www.pandasinternational.org/volunteer.html

Another great way to help the cause of these gentle giants is by adopting/sponsoring a Giant Panda for a fixed amount per month/year.  The money goes towards covering the cost of caretaker staff, veterinary care, medicine and vitamins, and lots and lots of bamboo!

http://www.pandasinternational.org/adopt.html

http://www.pandasinternational.org/sponsor.html

https://secure.wwf.org.uk/adoption/

You can also help support the cause by making a donation or becoming a member of the charities WWF or Pandas International which work tirelessly to gain support and spread awareness of the plight of the panda.  Their websites also have great fundraising ideas and other ways in which you can give your support.  They can be found at the following links:

http://www.wwf.org.uk/index.cfm

http://www.pandasinternational.org/index.html

Go on, do your bit, join in the pandemonium today and start spreading that panda love!