For decades the giant panda was the iconic face of all endangered species.But the cuddly black and white bear has made significant
progress in recent years, growing in numbers from about 1,200 in the
1980s and 1,864 counted in 2015.The good news meant the species’ threat
level was downgraded from endangered to threatened in 2016.To get more
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And many credit China's heightened efforts over the last decades to protect
the panda population and its habitat with its ressurgence.Now, the
Chinese government has gone further, creating a supersized national park
for the bears. It which spans across the areas where the 30 known
groups of pandas live.Giant Panda National Park will cover 10,476 square
miles of southwestern China - half the area of Wales and three times
the size of Yellowstone National Park. The new park will restore and
reconnect fragmented panda habitats in an effort to reunite bear
populations that have become separated from each other.Conservationists
believe that reunited giant panda groups will give them a better chance
to breed, helping to boost numbers of the bear even further.
One of the problems with protecting the pandas is that they have a very low
reproductive rate, with females generally only fertile for one to three
days each year.And they give birth usually only once every two
years. But it is hoped the new park will give the bears room to roam and
find mates, increasing their chances of survival.Most of the park will
be in Sichuan Province, home to more than 80 per cent of wild pandas,
and where in 2008 a huge magnitude 8 earthquake destroyed large swathes
of panda habitat, as well as several pandas.
This and other natural disasters, as well as logging, road construction, agriculture and human
encroachment, have degraded the landscape and broken up populations. The
mammal is now confined to to six mountain ranges and split into 30
groups, some of which have few than a dozen individuals. Marc Brody, a
founder of the ecotourism and conservation organisation Panda Mountain
said he is pleased the Chinese government is “specifically targeting
habitat rather than focusing solely on the animals. “That’s why this
park’s mission really matters."Habitat will remain patchy until degraded
lands are restored and stronger land-use restrictions get enforced that
make wildlife corridors possible.”
