Endangered Species: The Giant Panda (Kevin Warnken)

The giant panda is located in central China, in the mountain ranges in the Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu Provinces. The giant panda used to live in lowland areas, but farming and forest clearing have pushed them into the mountain ranges. According to the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species, the giant panda is an endangered species. There is around 1,600 left in the wild, and there is over 300 living in zoos and breeding centers that are primarily located in China. A reason why the giant panda is an endangered species is that they have a narrow niche. They have a narrow niche because the only thing they eat is bamboo, so if something bad happens to the bamboo, the number of pandas will decrease. Also, female pandas only ovulate once a year for about two to three days, so that does not give them a lot of time to reproduce.

The giant panda is important to China, especially in the bamboo forests that they live in. While living there, the giant panda moves through the forest, spreading seeds, which encourages the growth of vegetation. The pandas are at the geographic and economic heart of China, and by making this location more suitable, it makes the quality of life for the nearby citizens better, mainly because of the enormous economic benefits of tourists that come and see the pandas. Another reason the giant panda is important, is the fact that the panda is a symbol of nature conservation, so by encouraging people to save the panda, we are actually helping to preserve rich biodiversity.

In my opinion, and hopefully everyone else, the giant panda needs to be saved. Even though the giant panda serves no ecological purpose to where I am from, which is Albany, New York, they are my favorite animal, and I would hate to see them become extinct. Ecologically wise though, the giant panda is important for the growth of vegetation in China, so if they become extinct that would not be good. Also, and this something I would have never thought of if I did not do this assignment, is the symbol that the giant panda is for nature conservation. I guess this is kind of a double-edged sword, because with the giant panda being the symbol, people would feel more inclined to save them, which is a good thing. The bad thing is that maybe if they were to go extinct, it could possibly send a stronger message to people and show them that endangered species are a serious problem, and that we have to do what we can to save them from becoming extinct.

Sources:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giantpandas/pandafacts/
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/giant_panda/panda/why_we_save_the_giant_panda/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/giant-panda

Image Credit:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/16/giant-panda-robots-extinction-solved/