 |  |  |
Giant pandas are very cute. They are also very endangered. There are only about 1,600
of these black and white bears living in the bamboo forests of China. Pandas are unique
because 99% of their diet is made up of bamboo. Bamboo is not very nutritious, so a giant
panda may eat up to 80 pounds (36 kg) of bamboo in a day.
Because of logging and farming, the bamboo forests of China have been shrinking. The
remaining bamboo forests are small and not connected to each other. There are fewer
opportunities for male and female pandas to mate and reproduce.
Most of the time, bamboo spreads underground. Every few years, all of the plants of a
particular species of bamboo will flower, and then die off at the same time. Until new
plants can grow from the ground, the pandas must find another species of bamboo to
eat. If there are no other species growing nearby, the panda must move to another area
to find food. When the forests are small and separated, there may not be anywhere else
for the pandas to go.
Conservation groups and the Chinese government are working together to protect,
enlarge, and connect the bamboo forests that remain. Giant pandas will only be able to
survive if their bamboo forests survive.