Giant Pandas

Giant Pandas. . , Where Pandas Once Lived , Giant pandas once lived across southeast China and in northern Burma and Vietnam., Giant pandas living in China's lowlands lost their habitat in the 12th century as people moved into the river valleys and began farming rice., Cold-hardy pandas stayed high in the mountains, unbothered, until the expansion of human population began logging and farming China's steep slopes in the 19th and 20th centuries., Where Pandas Live Today , Only 700 square miles of core giant panda habitat exist today., Since 1974, the amount of healthy bamboo forest for giant pandas has shrunk by about 50 percent. Pandas now live in isolated patches of wilderness stretching across six mountain ranges., But a 1998 logging ban and programs to plant trees on the steepest slopes have begun to recover panda habitat., A Safe Place For Pandas , Just over 60 percent of wild giant pandas live in protected reserves., In 1963, the Chinese government established the first-ever giant panda nature reserve. Today, there are more than 50 reserves, most established in recent years., These protected areas represent nearly half of the giant pandas' remaining habitat. The largest is the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province, which is home to an estimated 70 wild giant pandas., Cutting Across Habitat , Paved roads crisscross giant panda habitat, isolating small groups of pandas., Giant pandas in these fragmented groups are more vulnerable to inbreeding and disease., But tunnels through the mountains and proposed "bamboo corridors" connecting the giant panda reserves will help re-link the populations, allowing pandas to move safely from one core habitat to another., In the Laboratory , Our science helps giant pandas in zoos and breeding centers., National Zoo scientists work closely with colleagues at Wolong's Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda and at the Chengdu Research Base., Together they study giant panda reproduction and learn how to care for and breed pandas in zoos and breeding centers., In the Field , Zoo science has changed how giant pandas are studied and managed in the wild., Researchers from the National Zoo and their partners teach wildlife managers from many of China's giant panda reserves., They train staff to look for signs of animals, map good habitat and work with nearby villages to share the lessons of conservation.