It may be the poster animal for endangered species awareness, but it appears the giant panda has bounced back.
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A leading worldwide group has taken the giant panda off its endangered list thanks to decades of conservation efforts, but China’s government discounted the move on Monday, saying it did not view the status of the country’s beloved symbol as any less serious.
A 17 percent rise in the giant panda population in the decade up to 2014 has demonstrating how an integrated approach can help save our planet’s vanishing biodiversity. Additionally, pandas are now spread out across a patchwork of isolated habitats, where small groups face increased risks and are less likely to produce offspring. The organization has observed increased forest cover in China, providing more potential habitat to giant pandas.
The warning over climate change was echoed by the IUCN, who warned that as much as 35 percent of the panda’s bamboo habitat could be damaged in the next 80 years.
The western gorilla, Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan are also listed as critically endangered, while the chimpanzee and bonobo are both endangered. The challenges we still face to save this and other species, including our own, are still not insurmountable.
The second subspecies of Eastern Gorilla – the Mountain Gorilla (G b beringei) -is faring better and has increased in number to around 880 individuals.
Four out of five species of great apes are now listed as critically endangered as populations have declined in recent years largely due to hunting, according to a new update from an worldwide conservation group.
Good news for animal lovers and conservationists: the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has downgraded Giant Pandas from endangered to vulnerable, meaning the adorable animals are slightly safer from extinction.
Evidence of the effects conversation efforts are having may be found with the Giant Panda, which was reclassified as Vulnerable after years of being an icon for endangered species.
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This means they are just one step away from extinction. Nearly one third, 23,928, are listed as being threatened with extinction. So while their populations are increasing in the wild, there is still a lot of work to be done to keep the forward momentum going.
