What is the status of giant pandas in the wild, and where do they live?
Giant pandas are an endangered species. They are difficult to census in the wild, but scientists believe there are about 1,600 remaining in the wild. These individuals live in scattered populations in central China, mostly in Sichuan Province, but also in Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces. Giant pandas specialize in eating bamboo, and so if the temperate bamboo forests in the mountains of central China continue to be cut down, there will be no room for giant pandas in the wild. This is why it is so crucial to support conservation research in China, and why we need to have a population of giant pandas in zoos as an insurance policy against extinction. What is a giant panda? Is a giant panda a bear or a raccoon? The giant panda is a member of the bear family, which scientists call the Ursidae. Among the bears, it is most closely related to the spectacled bear of South America. Scientists no longer believe that giant pandas are more like raccoons than bears. Also, giant pandas are not marsupial
