STATUS Vulnerable

POPULATION 1,864 in the wild

SCIENTIFIC NAME Ailuropoda melanoleuca

HEIGHT Adults can grow to more than four feet.

WEIGHT 220–330 pounds

HABITATS Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of southwest China

Despite their exalted status and relative lack of natural predators, pandas are still at risk. Severe threats from humans have left just over 1,800 pandas in the wild.

This peaceful creature with a distinctive black and white coat is adored by the world and considered a national treasure in China. The panda also has a special significance for WWF because it has been WWF's logo since our founding in 1961.

Pandas live mainly in bamboo forests high in the mountains of western China, where they subsist almost entirely on bamboo. They must eat from 26 to 84 pounds of it every day, a formidable task for which they use their enlarged wrist bones that function as opposable thumbs.

A newborn panda is about the size of a stick of butter—about 1/900th the size of its mother—but can grow to up to 330 pounds as an adult. These bears are excellent tree climbers despite their bulk.

Wild pandas get a boost Wild panda numbers are finally rebounding after years of decline. In September, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced that pandas have been upgraded from “endangered” to “vulnerable.”

CRUCIAL ROLE IN FORESTS Pandas play a crucial role in the bamboo forests where they roam by spreading seeds and facilitating growth of vegetation. In the Yangtze Basin where pandas live, the forests are home to a stunning array of wildlife such as dwarf blue sheep, multicolored pheasants and other endangered species, including the golden monkey, takin and crested ibis.

The panda’s habitat is at the geographic and economic heart of China, home to millions of people. By making this area more sustainable, we are also helping to increase the quality of life of local populations. Pandas bring huge economic benefits to local communities through ecotourism.

HABITAT LOSS China’s Yangtze Basin region, which holds the panda’s primary habitat, is the geographic and economic heart of this booming country. Roads and railroads are increasingly fragmenting the forest, which isolates panda populations and prevents mating.

Forest destruction also reduces pandas’ access to the bamboo they need to survive. The Chinese government has established more than 50 panda reserves, but only around 61% of the country’s panda population is protected by these reserves.

HUNTING Hunting remains an ever-present threat. Poaching the animals for their fur has declined due to strict laws and greater public awareness of the panda’s protected status. But hunters seeking other animals in panda habitats continue to kill pandas accidentally.

WWF was the first international conservation organization to work in China at the Chinese government's invitation. WWF’s main role in China is to assist and influence policy-level conservation decisions through information collection, demonstration of conservation approaches, communications and capacity building.

PROTECTING GIANT PANDAS We work towards and advocate for

increasing the area of panda habitat under legal protection creating green corridors to link isolated pandas patrolling against poaching, illegal logging and encroachment building local capacities for nature reserve management continuing research and monitoring WWF has been helping with the Chinese government’s National Conservation Program for the giant panda and its habitat. Thanks to this program, panda reserves now cover more than 3.8 million acres of forest.

Photos from Camera Traps in China Camera traps are not the intricate and elaborate devices you might imagine. These innovative conservation tools are in fact nothing more than everyday cameras, armed with infrared sensors that take a picture whenever they sense movement in the forest.