Giant Panda Not an Evolutionary Dead End

Giant Panda Not an Evolutionary Dead End



Aug. 2007  - Hope that the giant panda will not 
slide into extinction has been revived by a new study issued today by 
scientists from Cardiff University. The giant panda is not at an 
"evolutionary dead end" and could have a long term viable future, the new 
study finds. 
One of the world's great charismatic species, giant pandas attract intense 
interest from the public in zoos and in the wild. An estimated 1,600 
pandas remain in the wild. 
But previous studies have found that the giant panda's isolation, unusual 
dietary requirements and slow reproductive rates have led to a lack of 
genetic diversity that will inevitably lead the species to extinction.


Now a study by Professor Michael Bruford and Dr. Benoit Goossens from the 
University of Cardiff School of Biosciences, in collaboration with 
Professor Fuwen Wei and colleagues from the Institute of Zoology along 
with the China West Normal University in Sichuan province, has found that 
the decline of the species can be linked directly to human activities 
rather than a genetic inability to adapt and evolve. 
"Our research challenges the hypothesis that giant pandas are at an 
evolutionary dead end," said Professor Bruford. "It is however clear that 
the species has suffered demographically at the hands of human activities 
such as deforestation and poaching." 
The study gives a new genetic perspective on the giant panda, as well as 
tracing its demographic history. The research also shows that in areas 
where habit conservation projects are in place, the giant panda is 
flourishing and population numbers are increasing. 
Giant pandas live in southwestern China and have the most restricted 
distribution of all bears. Their habitat is limited to bamboo thickets in 
mountainous regions between altitudes of 1,200 and 3,500 meters. 
Ninety-nine percent of a panda's diet is made up of 30 species of bamboo. 
Once hunted for their fur, meat and body parts, giant pandas are 
classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List and are listed by the 
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, on 
Appendix I, which means that all international trade in the animals and 
their parts is prohibited. 
"Our research suggests we have to revise our thinking about the 
evolutionary prospects for the giant panda," said Professor Bruford. "The 
species has a viable future and possesses the genetic capacity to adapt to 
new circumstances."


Conservation efforts should be directed towards habitat restoration and 
protection, Bruford advises, saying, "In their natural environment, the 
giant panda is a species that can have a bright future." 
At least one panda conservation project is succeeding on the basis of 
community conservation efforts, says the Chinese branch of the global 
conservation group WWF, whose logo and mascot is the giant panda. 
Within the forests of the Upper Yangtze, WWF China has identified the 
Minshan mountain range in Sichuan and Gansu provinces as an outstanding 
landscape for unique and endangered wildlife, with important populations 
of giant panda, clouded leopard, golden monkey and the world's richest 
variety of pheasants. 
The Minshan covers parts of sixteen counties and 19 nature reserves and is 
populated by close to one million Han, Tibetan, Qiang, and Baima people. 
In 1998, massive flooding devastated a large area along the Yangtze River 
downstream from Sichuan. In response, the Chinese government declared a 
ban on logging in order to protect the river's upper watershed forests. 
The logging ban eliminated what had been the major threat to pandas and 
their habitat - commercial logging. At the same time, it brought new 
challenges. With no more revenue from taxes on logging, local government 
has less money to support conservation. 
Now, WWF China, together with a wide range of stakeholders, is 
implementing an approach to conservation that balances the ecological, 
social, and economic needs of the landscape. 
This project is demonstrating community-based conservation of the giant 
panda and its habitat and seeks to expand these experiences to other areas 
in the Minshan landscape. 
The giant panda is considered a national treasure in China, and it comes 
under the highest category of legal protection. By 2012, WWF China 
projects, giant panda populations and their habitats will have increased 
by at least 10 percent in the Minshan area. 

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