Panda conservation - A lasting legacy

Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) young male, Qinling Mountains, China

The issue

In the 1980s, giant pandas were in trouble – with estimates at 1,114 wild pandas remaining in the wild. We now know this was largely because their habitats were being fragmented, damaged and getting smaller, alongside other pressures like poaching. If we were to protect the giant panda, we needed to know more about them in the wild.

“Back in the 1980s, according to the second national panda survey, there were only 1,114 wild pandas. At that time, people were saying it was because of the bamboo flowering (natural die off), and due to issues breeding in the wild. But, after 10-20 years of studies, they found breeding wasn’t the issue. And we now know bamboo die off wasn't the only cause. It was habitat quality, bamboo distribution and also most importantly the human pressures. Human activities were disturbing pandas, shrinking the panda habitat.”

Pu Guijun WWF-China Giant Panda Programme Team

Camera trap image of a panda walking down a steep rocky slope

The Solution

Working together, an international team began researching wild giant pandas. With local researchers, rangers and community members, WWF started on a journey to understand wild giant panda conservation.

The group shared experience and knowledge about the landscape, panda distribution, scientific research techniques, modern field equipment and more. All this data gathering provided new insight into the behaviour of wild giant pandas and the threats they face – vital information for conservation efforts.

The beginning of giant panda research

A home for a wild Panda research

Professor Hu Jinchu, a local to Sichuan Province with experience of working in the forest, was looking for a spot to set up the first panda field observation station in the world. The goal – from this station, study wild giant pandas and try to understand the real reason for their decline. Professor Hu found an ideal spot for the wuyipeng (small hut) high in the mountains of what is now Wolong National Nature Reserve, part of the Giant Panda National Park.
Dr George Schaller was invited by the Chinese government and WWF to join the research. This made WWF the first international conservation organisation to carry out fieldwork in China. Research focused on wild pandas began.
Pioneering international collaboration

Before WWF’s arrival, Dr Hu Jinchu's team had prepared 7 monitoring routes from the research camp, through the steep and thickly forested terrain, totalling around 100km. These routes were based on the team’s local knowledge of the landscape and the animals living there. WWF’s support built on this local expertise, enhancing the scientific research and conservation efforts. This included the radio tracking collars that Dr Schaller’s team brought to the station.
To collar this secretive bear, the pioneering international team collaborated with an experienced local hunter who was now turning his tracking skills to conservation. An artificial wooden cave was constructed to attract pandas, enhanced with the smell of smoked meat. Through some disturbance in the camp and local farms, the team had learned that preserved smoked meat was a little too tempting for even the famous bamboo-lovers to resist.
Once in the wooden cave, the pandas were sedated to fit their collars. The team also gathered data on sex, weight (it took at least three people to lift the pandas to weigh them!) and body length, before releasing the pandas back into the forest and monitoring the signals emitted by their new collars.
A total of six giant pandas – three at first and another three later – were collared for tracking by researchers. This marked the first ever successful collaring of wild giant pandas.
Getting to know Pandas

Tracking the pandas was not always straightforward. Following some disconcerting cracking sounds from their camp on one occasion, the rangers discovered one of the pandas making herself a home in their tent, and tucking into precious food reserves. This panda was aptly named Phi-Phi ‘Naughty’, leaving the rangers with little more than biscuits for the rest of their trip.
To support this demanding ranger work, WWF provided technical outdoor clothing for the team. This helped the team to carry out the important research and monitoring that was making use of newly applied scientific methods alongside traditional knowledge.
Later, after the team had witnessed giant panda mating behaviour for the first time, data from the collar of a panda named Zhen-Zhen indicated that her active range was shrinking, as she prepared to give birth.
A lasting legacy

From these early research efforts, we learned vital information about the giant panda, coming to understand more about their home range size, their solitary and territorial nature, how they communicate through tree marking, how they use dens to rest and give birth, and how individuals are only likely to interact during mating season. And importantly, how to work with partners and communities to protect giant pandas and their habitat. 
Today, we continue to support local partners, rangers and communities to protect pandas’ habitat, collecting data through camera trapping and poo monitoring, working with nature reserves and forest farms (areas that were previously logged), and working with communities living near panda habitat to support sustainable development and giant panda conservation. We’re still learning about pandas, and there are many unknowns, such as how their habitats will be affected by climate change.

Find out more

Result

Based on the last national survey in 2014, there are now just over 1,864 giant pandas in the wild. In 2016, the giant panda’s conservation status was downgraded from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’. This is a big panda paw step in the right direction. 

The early work from the 1980s has a strong legacy as we continue to gain more insight into pandas’ biology and conservation status and collaborate with communities living alongside these iconic bears.   

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Giant Pandas - A lasting legacy

The issue

The Solution

The beginning of giant panda research

A home for a wild Panda research

Pioneering international collaboration

Getting to know Pandas

A lasting legacy

Result

Adopt a Panda

Adopt a Panda