Status and conservation of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca):: a review

The giant panda was once widely distributed in China, parts of Burma, Vietnam, and Thailand. Fossils of the giant panda and its relatives have been found at more than 40 sites in 16 provinces of China and also in north of Vietnam. With the rapid increase of human populations, the expansion of agriculture and large-scale deforestation, the habitat of the giant panda has been greatly reduced. At present, only 12,000 km(2) of habitat, about 1/5 of the range of giant panda 40 years ago, remains in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gangsu Provinces. The number of giant pandas in the field was estimated to about 1000. Breeding giant pandas in captivity is very difficult. More than 10 countries in the world obtained 42 wild giant pandas from China between 1936-1999, those pandas bred in 14 toes, but only six of them survive at five toes in four countries. Unluckily, only 12 males and 21 females reproduced between 1936-1998. Two hundred and twenty-six cubs were born in toes and conservation breeding centers throughout the world during 1963-1998, but 109 died within 30 days of birth. No more than 30% of those cubs survived for more than three years in captivity. We analyzed threats to the giant panda such as poaching, habitat destruction and degradation, low reproductive ability, diseases, natural enemies, bamboo flowering and inbreeding. We also discuss conservation issues such as: habitat conservation, ex situ conservation and the field release of captive-bred giant pandas.