Guest Author - Wendy Amato

Scientists now believe there are nearly 1,600 giant pandas living in the mountains of China, up from the 1,000 estimated in the 1980’s. Chinese scientists have also reported a record number of giant panda births in captivity this year. Around the world, 25 panda cubs were born and have survived. This is a marked improvement from 10 years ago, when no captive-born pandas were surviving past a few weeks. Hua Mei, born in the San Diego zoo in 1999, was the first panda in the U.S. to survive to adulthood. She now lives in the panda research station in China. Scientists hope to start returning some captive pandas to the wild once the population reaches about 300, a number computer models predict will increase chances of survival.

Each zoo in the U.S. displaying pandas pays the Chinese government about $1 million dollars for panda conservation. This money is very important as the Chinese population continues to grow and development spreads into the wilderness. Recently, the wild population has grown in China thanks to more reserves reducing habitat destruction from logging and development, and an increase in the number of panda reserves. But by some reports, the panda habitat is still only half of what it used to be. Conservationists must continue to be vigilant to protect these wild areas for pandas.