Background

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.

Population

With only around 2060 pandas living in the wild, the giant panda is considered vulnerable of extinction by the IUCN. Due to the fact that pandas reproduce so infrequently, it is very difficult for their population to recover from such a low point. One the main reasons that panda populations have declined is habitat destruction. As the human population in China continues to grow, pandas’ habitat gets taken over by development, pushing them into smaller and less livable areas. Habitat destruction also leads to food shortages. Pandas feed on several varieties of bamboo that bloom at different times of the year. If one type of bamboo is destroyed by development, it can leave the pandas with nothing to eat during the time it normally blooms, increasing the risk of starvation.

Endangered

To combat this issue, the Chinese government has actively worked to restore and protect bamboo habitat, and these measures have shown positive results. State Forestry Administration surveys have concluded that the panda population has increased since the Chinese government’s actions, and in 2016, the IUCN upgraded the giant panda’s status from Endangered to Vulnerable. While an increasing panda population is good news for now, it is predicted that climate change will eliminate over 35% of the panda’s bamboo habitat in the next 80 years.

Wildlife reserves have been set up in parts of China to make sure the pandas have a home, and care is taken to make sure they survive in the wild. Researchers continue to study how pandas breed in an effort to increase the population. You can help by donating or adopting a panda through the World Wildlife Fund.