A few weeks ago in my science class, my teacher had us watch a movie about endangered species. I was shocked to see one of my favorite animals on the endangered species list, the panda. I decided to do some research of my own and inform you all about the dangers faced by these rare animals.

The panda is believed to have come into existence about 600,000 years ago. The pandas populated what is now eastern China, Myanmar, and North Vietnam. But as the human population and industrial activity has increased in China, the panda population has decreased immensely. Today, the panda's natural habitat is limited to just the mountains and bamboo forests of southwestern China.

The panda's diet consists of 95 percent bamboo. And the panda, in order to survive, must intake 20-40 pounds of bamboo each day! But bamboo is becoming scarce, and the pandas are having to search for other foods such as: fish, flowers, plants, and grass. For bamboo to grow again, it may take about a year. But bamboo goes through a cycle of flourishing and dying, and the next generation of bamboo large enough to support pandas may take 10-100 years. To solve this problem, China has made efforts to buy and supply 14 different panda reserves with bamboo. But bamboo has become increasingly expensive, and many farmers have stopped growing it.

Today there are less than 1,000 pandas living! 140 of these pandas are living in captivity. The survival rates of pandas living in captivity are extremely low. This is because pandas are adapted to very specific climates. In the summer, pandas will migrate to higher altitudes to keep cool, and in the winter move to lower altitudes to stay warm. And captive pandas are very unlikely to mate, and almost never do in captivity.

As the price of panda fur goes up, so does the number of poachers. In the past 100 years, poachers have killed thousands of pandas. In China, they have made poaching illegal, and the punishments are rather harsh. One of the punishments for the poaching of pandas is life imprisonment! But poachers will stop at nothing to get their hands on beautiful panda fur.

If more steps are not taken to keep this animal alive, the panda species will become completely extinct in the next century.

I hope you all go out and find ways you can make a difference.

This is Phoebe6 signing off!
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