Human Impact
- Humans have a big impact on a panda's habitat, they are an endangered species there are only about 1,600 pandas living in the wild.
- Pandas can defend themselves against predators, but the main threat that they have are HUMANS.
- The reason why they are one of the most endangered species on our planet is because the threatened activities such as:
- habitat loss and fragmentation,
- poaching
- illegal trade
- overgrazing
- Bamboo normally grows on lowlands, but since humans have cut down many trees for farming, pandas have had to move to high lands to avoid contact with humans.
- The bamboo habitat has been destroyed by logging.
- In the Sichuan Province alone it shrank by 50% between 1974 and 1989. The Chinese government banned logging in the panda's habitat in 1998.
- Much of the panda's habitat has been cleared for the following reasons:
- timber
- agriculture
- fuel wood for heating and cooking
- infrastructure for a growing population
- hydropower development.
But YOU can help stop this:
- To save pandas from becoming extinct, we can set aside land for pandas and stop poacher's from killing them for their fur. If more land is set aside and bamboo isn't being cut down, then it will be easier for pandas to find food near water. If water is more than a mile away, the pandas don't bother to get it.
- Panda reserves are being built to help save pandas. But you do not need to travel all around to world to do something about it you can campaign from your home and donate to help save these beautiful creatures.