China is planning to create a giant panda reserve three times the size of Yellowstone national park in the US, as part of efforts to boost the wild population of the long-endangered animal. The 10,476 sq mile (27,134 sq km) area will link up 67 existing panda reserves on six isolated mountain ranges. It is […]
Tag: giant panda
Video: Panda Playing in Snow Goes Viral
A video of the Smithsonian National Zoo’s young giant panda, Bao Bao, tumbling down a snowy hill in Washington, D.C., has become a warm and fuzzy distraction amid this week’s frigid U.S. cold snap. As the year’s first snow blanketed the city on January 6, the 16-month-old female spent much of the morning playing in […]
Yangtze finless porpoise population nosedives to 1,000
The Yangtze finless porpoise population has declined to a mere 1,000 individuals, making the endangered species even more rare than the wild giant panda, the 2012 Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Survey Report reveals. The population in the mainstream of the Yangtze River was less than half of what a similar survey found six years ago, with […]
China’s forest privatization move threatens pandas
China’s decision to open up collective forest for sale by individuals to outside interests will put 345,700 hectares or 15 percent of the giant panda’s remaining habitat at risk, warns a letter published in the journal Science. The letter, authored by a team of researchers including scientists from Conservation International and Chinese institutions, says that […]