The giant panda's numbers have been declining for thousands of years due to hunting by humans and climatic changes.The greatest present threat to the panda's survival is the loss of its habitat. Their range is steadily shrinking due to logging operations, fell trees, and peasants clearing the land for farming or harvesting vegetation for fuel. The panda's populations are already small and isolated, confined to high ridges and hemmed in by cultivation. Poaching was once a serious problem but has dropped off, and it is no longer considered a major problem in substantial portions of the range. Furthermore, pandas' body parts are no longer sought for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Giant pandas are, however, victims of snares set for musk deer by poachers.
An indirect threat relates to the panda's reliance on bamboo for food. Bamboo stands are subject to periodic large-scale die-offs. In the past, when bamboo died off, pandas could migrate to areas with healthy bamboo. But a fragmented habitat makes this impossible. With better public education and awareness, the Panda's status as a Nation Treasure has helped to bring about a better understanding of it's endangered status as well. The Chinese Government has inacted harsher penalties for those that poach Pandas.
I suppose part of the reason for the decline of the Giant Panda, aside from the intrusion of humans into their environment, could be due to their unique reproduction process. In the wild, the Giant Pandas do not reach sexual maturity until somewhere between the ages of four and a half years old till, in some cases, as old as seven and a half. In captivity it averages out to five and a half and six and a half years. During her heat, the female is only fertile between two to seven days.
The number of young per litter is usually 1 or 2, very rarely she may have 3. However, a captive female will only raise 1 of these young even if more than one are born. Now and again a wild female might, on rare occasions, attempt to raise two. (Several instances of a female accompanied by 2 young have been reported from the Min and Qionglai Mountains.) The birth interval is 2 years. (Schaller et al. 1985)
After a period of approximately 135 days, which is average (97-181 days) the babies are born helpless, like kittens, puppies, mice, etc. They are born with their eyes sealed and cannot maintain their own body temperature. Pandas have a unique ability to experience what is called Delayed Implantation, a process where the embryo will divide a few times and then stop developement, floating free within the uterus for a period of up to six months, after which it attaches itsefl to the uterine wall and continues it's developement.
"Since a panda female may not produce her first offspring until the age of 7 years and probably raises only one young successfully every 3 years (a rate of 0.3 young per year), the population can sustain an annual total mortality rate no greater than about 8 % per year."Schaller et al. 1985)
With low birth rate, habitat invasion, and reduced range, it is no wonder the Giant Panda is on the Endangered Species list.
The lifespan of the Panda is still being researched. One animal lived to an age of about 34 years in captivity. The lifespan in the wild is still unknown.
Comments
wow great work!
by davoomac on April 23rd, 2006