The giant panda only exists at present in six small areas located in inland China.
The habitat, suitable for the bamboo on which it survives, is a cold, damp coniferous
forest. The elevation ranges from 1,200 to 3,400 meters high. In most of the areas in
which they still roam wild, they must compete with farmers who farm the river valleys
and the lower slopes of the mountains. It is estimated that there are somewhere around
700 and 1,000 giant pandas still alive in the wild. Because of their reliance on bamboo
as their primary food, they will remain in significant danger unless their present habitat is
expanded. The differing varieties of bamboo go through periodic die-offs as part of their
renewal cycle. Without the ability to move to new areas which have not been affected,
starvation and death will certainly occur for the giant panda. Such die-offs of the bamboo
also put the giant pandas in more direct contact with farmers and poachers as the bears
try to find new......
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