Pandas in Peril

Forest and Bird, Issue 250, 1 November 1988, Page 10

Pandas in Peril

Since October, Auckland Zoo has been playing host to two giant pandas whose visit is proving enormously popular. Doubts, however, have been raised about both the risks such exhibitions pose to conservation of this famous rare species, and the morality of parading the animals for commercial gain. In this article, reproduced from the Australian Conservation Foundation magazine Habitat, World Wildlife Fund In Australia conservation officer Ray Nias argues against further exhibitions.

he world’s largest private conservation organisation, World Wildlife Fund, has called upon international zoos and Chinese authorities to put an end to exhibition loans of giant pandas, after completion of the latest programme now underway in Canada, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Today the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is restricted to the bamboo forests of south-western China where fewer than 1000 animals remain. Unless the small remaining patches of suitable habitat are conserved, the giant panda faces extinction within the next 100 years, perhaps even sooner. Analysis of satellite images from the mid- 1970s to the mid- 1980s shows a clear pattern of human encroachment taking place within the panda’s habitat and a continued reduction of forest cover both within and outside the twelve established reserves. Today, the panda is in its last remaining stronghold. It has nowhere else to go. Westward lies only the rock and ice of the Tibetan plateau where pandas have never lived. The panda literally has its back against the wall. Declining Numbers Since the first Chinese survey in the mid1970s, China's panda population has decreased by 150 to 200 individuals. The total panda population, estimated at 1000 to 1100 ten years ago, is now between 800 and 1000. The analysis, part of a joint project conducted by World Wildlife Fund and the Chinese Ministry of Forestry, included a ground survey of the giant panda’s habitat as well as a study of satellite images. Information from the ground survey on distribution and density shows that the population is increasingly divided into small sub-groups separated by insurmountable barriers such as roads, settlements and agricultural areas. Most of these sub-populations number fewer than 50 individuals with many being as few as 10. Any sub-population with fewer than 20 individuals cannot be expected to survive for more than a very few generations because of lack of suitable breeding partners. Studies on captive pandas show that only 15 percent of the population is in the right age class to breed at any given time. Thus each time a population reaches 20 individuals, only two or three may be breeders, and all may be of the same sex. Additionally, as with all species, the smaller the group of animals, the greater the danger of in-breeding. The giant panda has the digestive system of a carnivore, but long ago adapted to a vegetarian diet. They feed almost exclusively on the stems and leaves of bamboo. Hidden in the dense foliage of the forest, the panda feeds almost continuously on the

nutrient-poor bamboo, consuming 12-14kg in a 24-hour period. One of the main threats to the panda comes when the bamboo flowers. This happens over large areas at regular intervals (from ten to over 100 years, depending on the species), after which the plants die. Although it takes the bamboo about one year to regenerate from seed it can take up to ten years before it can support a panda population. During this time the pandas have to move to other areas where the bamboo has not flowered. In the past, this has not posed a problem but, with expanding human populations, large areas of the forest have been cut down for agriculture and the pandas’ movements have been restricted.

Unlike other bears, the panda does not hibernate. The animal lives a solitary existence, meeting only occasionally with other pandas, apart from during the very brief mating season (2-3 days) when several males may come together and compete for a female. Breeding in Captivity Difficult Breeding of the giant panda is very difficult in captivity, making its protection in the wild all the more important. Panda cubs weigh only 90-130 grams at birth, and have little fur, whereas an adult can weigh over 100 kilograms. Maturation is slow — weaning occurs after six months. The average life span is only 10-15 years. There are reported to be more than 80 pandas in captivity

within China and a further 18 are held in international zoos. Captive breeding, however, whether through natural breeding or artificial insemination, does present difficulties and the population held in zoos is not self-sustaining. In addition to being actively involved with the conservation of wild pandas and their habitat, the World Wildlife Fund has also participated in joint research programmes aimed at producing a viable captive-bred population as a further measure of security for the species. In recent years there have been an increasing number of exhibition loans of pandas to zoos outside China. World Wildlife Fund recognises that these loans attract considerable public interest and the funds generated may benefit panda conservation in China. See Against Loan ibits However, the World Wildlife Fund has become increasingly concerned that since these loans subtract potential breeding animals from the captive populations, they do not form a useful part of an integrated breeding programme. WWF has raised this issue with the relevant organisations in China on several occasions. It has been suggested that the loans should be restricted to only those animals which are either too old or too young to breed. However, it is diffi- cult to specify an age above which pandas are too old for breeding, and it would appear unwise to subject young animals, which might reproduce in the future, to the risks of international travel. Therefore, WWF urges the world’s zoos, and the Chinese authorities, to cease their involvement in exhibition loans of giant pandas, once the loans in Calgary, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland are completed. WWF will not associate itself with any further loans in the future. WWF also urges the Chinese authorities to halt the use of giant pandas in circuses. Experience in other countries has shown that commercial activities related to endangered species tend to put pressure on the wild population. In this context, WWF shares the concern of Professor Hu Jinchu, one of China's leading panda experts, who has stated that it is necessary to stop the capture of pandas for zoos to save the species from extinction. (China Daily, Beijing, 15 July 1987). The Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society has joined WWF in protesting about the exhibition, although it realises that there are some positive aspects to it. It is important that money made during the four-month visit goes directly to panda conservation. At the last meeting of the IUCN, New Zealand and China both supported a resolution that there be no more exhibitions; it thus appears that this will be the first and last in New Zealand.

7 os acai member Glen O'Keefe adds the following updated information on the plight of the giant pandas.

Reproduction Giant pandas are dependent upon and thus remain with the adult female for the first 18 months of life. Because of this and due to a gestation period of 35 months, at best the female can only produce offspring each two years. At the present time they are not managing this. A female which gives birth to a cub (which subsequently lives to independence) each three years is a rarity. Where two cubs are born, one will be abandoned as the female must carry the other for the first 16 weeks following the birth. The remaining cub is by all accounts given constant care but despite this there is high mortality in the wild. I have been unable to establish the age at which giant pandas mate but there are records of one captive female being on heat at the age of four years. Of the pandas being lent to New Zealand, the male will be around five and a quarter and the female almost four years old by the time they return to China. China has around 80 captive pandas, yet the total number of offspring born in captivity per year is 3, and these via artificial insemination.

Status Since the last survey 12 years ago when it was found there were around 1000 pandas left in the wild, habitat loss has increased, there has been bamboo die-off (1983) and poachers seem to be as numerous as ever despite the fact that they may receive life imprisonment or the death penalty. In the past 12 years, one in four pandas died through poaching. Giant panda hides sell for about $15,000 in Japan or Hongkong. As an example of the extremely precarious situation the panda is now in, one need look no further than Wolong Reserve at Sichuan province. With 770 sq miles, Wolong is the largest of 12 panda reserves. It is staffed with biologists led by China’s panda expert, Professor Hu Jinchu and America’s panda expert George Schaller. At Wolong is the $US 1.6 million research and conservation centre which is specifically for giant pandas. In short, Wolong reserve appears well managed. Despite this, the number of pandas there has decreased to 72, 50 percent of those at Wolong 12 years ago.

It should be remembered too, that giant pandas have been ruthlessly exploited during the 50 years that the western world has known them. Expeditions for hides in the 1930s generally resulted in the deaths of cubs, lactating females and old pandas. Of those captured live, many died before they could be shipped from China, and the majority of those which did live long enough to reach foreign zoos died within 1-12 months. Because pandas did not run from gun-fire, early hunters described them as ‘‘stupid’’. I believe pandas are probably incapable of any activity which demands sustained high level expenditure of energy. Bamboo shoots are 90 percent water and 80 percent of the food is not digested. Also, the evolution of giant pandas has proceeded alongside that of bamboo, thus the body is modified for ambling through bamboo thickets and for sitting upright to peel and eat shoots. Pandas spend 50-75 percent of their time doing just this. They may climb trees and can stand upright but they have never achieved the bi-pedal-ism most bear species are capable of nor have they achieved speed on all fours.