Species of the Week: The Giant Panda!
The face behind our WWF logo for decades, the Giant Panda is one of the most recognizable animals in the world. Sadly, it is also one of the most endangered.
Once found in large numbers across southern and eastern China, and neighbouring Myanmar and northern Vietnam, it is estimated that as few as 1600 pandas live in the wild today.
There are a number of factors that have threatened the giant panda’s population.
- Habitat loss and fragmentation due to clear-cutting of forests for agriculture, timber, and fuel wood have destroyed more than 50% of the bamboo forests that make up the giant panda’s home.
- Pandas forced to stay in one smaller region face a greater risk of inbreeding, which can lead to reduced resistance to disease, less adaptability to environmental changes, and reproductive problems.
- A Panda’s daily menu consists almost entirely of the leaves, stems, and shoots of various bamboo species. This behaviour defines their lives in many ways, since they will often rely on living close to areas where bamboo is abundant. This leaves them vulnerable to any loss of bamboo habitat – a key threat to their survival.
WWF International is working to protect the giant panda and the habitat important to it by working with businesses, farmers, and local governments to incorporate sustainability into their policies and patterns of consumption.
By symbolically adopting a Giant Panda or other species, you’re supporting WWF’s conservation efforts. Each adoption kit includes a wildlife plush animal, personalized adoption certificate, paper gift bag, species poster and information pamphlet, and a charitable tax receipt for a portion of your purchase. To adopt a species today and give an extraordinary gift, visit our online store.
