(CN) Decreasing habitat threatens giant panda

February 17, 2001

GENEVA: The disappearance and fragmentation of its rugged mountain forest home

are the " major extinction threats " to the endangered giant panda, said a world

conservation body in a report published on Thursday.

According to the report by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) in China's

southwestern Sichuan Province, where the biggest number of giant pandas struggle

for survival, suitable habitat for them shrank by 50 per cent between 1974 and

1989. A survey conducted in 1999 in one county in Sichuan revealed that since

1987 there has been a 30 per cent decrease in panda habitat.

" Habitat fragmentation is especially dangerous for pandas, as they must adjust

to the life cycle of bamboo, which flower and die periodically, " said Dr Lu Zhi,

co-author of the report and former co-ordinator of the WWF's Panda Programme in

China.

" Small isolated populations of giant pandas, whose diet consists almost entirely

of various bamboo species found in high mountain areas, face a risk of

inbreeding. This could lead to reduced resistance to disease, worse adaptability

to environmental change and a decrease in reproductive rates, " the report noted.

There are around 1,000 giant panda remaining in the wild and a new census is

under way, according to the WWF.

Xinhua

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02/17/2001

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