Animals
The number of pandas living in the wild has increased
Panda bears prefer to eat bamboo. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
China reports an increase in the number of cute bears to almost 1,900 animals. This puts the giant panda in the lowest of three tiers in the endangered species category.
This puts the giant panda in the lowest of three tiers in the endangered species category. The black and white bears are now exposed to a “high” instead of “very high” risk of extinction in the wild.
In an official survey between 1974 and 1977, the government counted 2,459 panda bears, according to information from the forestry authority. In a second survey in the 1980s, the number fell dramatically to 1,114 specimens. During subsequent investigations between 1999 and 2003 and 2011 and 2014, the government counted more animals again.
Pandas for China are something like ambassadors abroad
Panda bears live mainly high in the mountain forests of Sichuan Province in southwest China and prefer to feed on bamboo. In the provincial capital Chengdu, the government operates a research station and an extensive breeding program with the animals that are reluctant to mate. According to official information, around 230 pandas live there. For Beijing, they are something like ambassadors abroad and are rented out for a lot of money to other countries, including the Berlin Zoo in Germany.
China is working with 20 institutions in 18 countries to conserve pandas, according to the forestry department. According to this, 56 giant pandas currently live outside of China. Panda offspring born abroad usually have to return to the People’s Republic.