Why Are Giant Pandas Becoming Extinct?

With fewer than 1,600 of them left in the wild as of 2010, giant pandas are classified as an endangered species on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Animals. Conservation efforts continue at places such as the San Diego Zoo in California and wildlife reserves in China to help restore the wild panda population, but there are a handful of factors working against the giant panda, from the animals' low reproductive rate to human influence.

  1. Location

    • Giant pandas are mammals, and in the wild, they live in a series of small forests in mountain ranges of central and southwestern China in the Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The black and white bears live at elevations that range from 5,000 to 10,000 feet in broadleaf and coniferous forests that are thick with bamboo and humid, with torrential rainfall and constant mist.

    Reproduction

    • Giant pandas have a short breeding season---females ovulate only once a year, during the spring---and a low reproductive rate, both of which have contributed to the animals' endangered status. Females give birth to one or two cubs, but in the wild, the mother will care for only one of the cubs, so the other will not survive. In captive facilities, handlers will help raise the second cub. Giant pandas reach maturity between ages 4 and 8, and females give birth between 95 and 160 days after mating.

    Food

    • Giant pandas dine almost exclusively on bamboo, with the occasional grasses and small rodents. Their limited menu has played a large role in the animals' becoming endangered. An entire species of bamboo plants bloom and die at the same time, forcing the pandas to relocate or starve. Another challenge facing pandas is that adults consume 20 to 40 lbs. of bamboo each day in order to get all the nutrients they need, meaning a panda can clear out an area's bamboo supply in a relatively short amount of time, which also forces the animals to relocate.

    Habitat

    • Giant panda habitats continue to get smaller, mainly because of human development in and around the areas the pandas call home. The animals once lived in lowland areas, but the addition of farms and villages forced them into the mountain ranges in China, and development continues to depleted the animals' natural habitats. That, mixed with the giant panda's constant need to relocate to find new supplies of bamboo, factors heavily into the animals' difficulty surviving in the wild.

    Hunting

    • Despite strict regulations on hunting giant pandas in China, and penalties that have included fines and jail time, poachers continue to kill the animals in the wild for trophies and for their uniquely colored fur. Giant pandas are also frequent accidental victims of hunters, getting caught in hunting traps that are set for other animals such as musk deer.