What percentage of panda habitat is now under protection?
About 45% of total panda habitat or 10400km2 is now under protection in panda reserves. How do the results of the 3rd national survey compare to the previous surveys? It is not possible to compare results as a whole. The 3rd national survey is different from the previous survey in a number of ways, including: Survey area: The new survey covered the whole of the area known to have a panda population as well as the areas thought to potentially have populations. The previous survey used a sample area to calculate the total panda population. Habitat and distribution area: The 3rd national survey team visited all panda habitat. The previous survey calculated the number of pandas based on a sample area and then extrapolated the distribution area from this figure. Methodology: The new survey used Global Positioning System, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System to identify panda distribution. This method is much more accurate than the previous methods. Analysis: The analysis of the
