Habitat loss
The panda's main source of food is bamboo which only grows at an altitude of 500 - 3100 m. Like Zhou said in her first post, a panda consumes 38 kg worth of bamboo daily. However much of the land has been cleared for timber, agriculture, fuel for heating and cooking, infrastructure for a growing population and hydro-power development. So now the Panda's habitat has been confined to above 1400 m ): Furthermore their habitat is at risk of shrinking even further! It has shrunk by 50% between 1974 and 1989. Where are the pandas going to live if their habitat disappears and what are they going to eat?
Isolated habitats
The panda's habitat is separated into many isolated areas. Pandas cannot migrate between their different sections of habitat so they have difficulty finding new feeding areas during periods of bamboo die-off (bamboo die-back is a natural phenomenon that occurs every 15-120 years). Small isolated populations of pandas face greater risk of inbreeding, which can lead to reduced resistance to diseases, less adaptability to environmental changes and reproductive problems. This increases their chances of extinction.
Growing human population
Millions of people share the panda's environment and rely on the natural resources found in the area. With the increasing population, more people are moving to live around the panda's habitat and panda habitat is continuing to shrink. Many panda populations are isolated in narrow strips of bamboo no more than 1.2 km wide. Because of the ban of logging in the panda's habitat, mining, hydro-power development and irresponsible tourism has increased to make up for the revenue loss. These along with agricultural activities and road construction are serious threats to the pandas and wildlife in that area.
Here is a cute panda video!
Source: wwf.panda.org
After reading so much, I feel that we should do more in conserving pandas, and maybe do less in our expanding the growth of human's population and human's wants. The cost of trying to satisfy our needs have cost so much of the animal's and plant's world out there.):
ReplyDelete-Lin Wei
Regarding the habitat loss of the giant pandas, I believe that not all the fault is on humans. As our population increases, it is necessary for us to clear some of the forests to make space for human development such as housing and transport.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel that there also should be a limit to deforestation too. By preserving the giant panda's habitat, we are also saving many other rare species of animals such as the red panda and the golden monkey. Also, maybe parts of their habitat can be made accessible for tourists to see, thus boosting China's economic growth.
Perhaps we could also plant more bamboos. We will not only be increasing the pandas' food supply, but also ours. :)
-Zhou Zhou
Just to add in some facts on the part under isolated habitats! There are 3 million hectares of giant panda habitat among the 5 isolated mountain regions (Minshan Mountains, Qionglai Mountains, Liangshan Mountains, Qinling Mountains and Xiangling Mountains) but it is fragmented into 18 small populations. (www.wwfchina.org)
ReplyDeleteAlso, another reason why pandas are endangered will be because of poaching. Poaching not only reduces the number of pandas for the present generation, but also the female adult pandas which will affect the number of new-borns for the next generation. There were 153 cases of illegal trading of giant pandas ruing 1989-1992. The penalty for poaching of giant pandas is either imprisonment of death. Although several illegal traders have been sentenced, poaching still continues. Hence, I hope that there will be tougher and stricter measures for the illegal traders involved in poaching.
(Biological Conservation, Volume 111, Issue 2)
-Zhou Zhou
Hi Sophia! Which factor do you think has the greatest impact on the giant pandas and why?
ReplyDeleteHello (: Definitely the growing human population. It's because of humans that the pandas habitats are shrinking and becoming isolated!
DeleteP.S You forgot to write your name!
Hahaha yeah! Oops :x Its okay hahahah
ReplyDelete-ZZ
1. How badly has human's growing population affected them?
ReplyDelete2. What do you think that the government or the locals can do to minimize their impacts on pandas? Why?
-Lin Wei
Really badly. That's why their habitat is shrinking and their population is declining. They can build their homes elsewhere and get jobs that do not hurt the pandas. They should just stay away from the bamboo forests unless they want to live like how people did many years ago aka environmentally friendly.
DeleteDo you think it is possible to live as environmentally friendly like the past?
Delete-Zhou Zhou