Giant pandas:
Around 1,860 remain
Can be found:
Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces in western China
Threats:
Habitat loss and fragmentation, tourism, infrastructure
Giant Panda
(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
The charismatic giant panda is a global conservation icon and the symbol of our organisation. Thanks to decades of successful conservation work, wild panda numbers are starting to recover, but they remain at risk. Their habitat is severely fragmented which is the biggest threat to their survival.
Pandas typically lead a solitary life. They're excellent tree climbers, but they spend most of their time feeding. They can eat for about 14 hours a day, mainly bamboo, which is 99% of their diet (though they sometimes eat eggs or small animals too).
Giant pandas are living proof that conservation works.
Why are they so important?
Giant pandas help to keep their mountain forests healthy by spreading seeds in their droppings, which helps vegetation to thrive.
The giant panda’s forested habitat is also important for local people – for food, income and fuel for cooking and heating; they also play a crucial role in regulating water flow. Pandas live in the mountain catchment areas of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. The forests act as natural drainage basins, helping to control water runoff, reduce soil erosion and maintain water quality, which over a half a billion people depend on.
Panda habitat rivals the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem in the world. It's also vitally important for other threatened and endangered species, including golden snub-nosed monkeys, takins, red pandas and snow leopards.
By protecting pandas we’re also helping protect the wider environment where they live, for all the wildlife and the people that depend on it.
Key facts
What habitat does a giant panda live in?
Giant Pandas live in remote, high-altitude mountainous bamboo forests in China. Pandas occur in six mountain ranges across three provinces: Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. [1]
How many giant pandas are left?
Giant panda are considered a conservation success story. Populations declined between the 1970s and the late 1980s, due to habitat loss and poaching. But their numbers increased from an estimated 1,600 in 2004 to 1,860 in 2014.[2]
How big are giant pandas?
Giant pandas measure up to 150cm long and weigh between 67kg and 160kg - males weigh 10-20% more than females, about twice as heavy as a person. [3]
What do giant pandas eat?
Giant pandas spend 10-16 hours a day feeding, mainly on bamboo. [4]
Pandas can eat up to 18kg of bamboo roots, stems, shoots and leaves per day. [3]
What is the IUCN status of giant pandas?
In 2016, giant pandas were downlisted from endangered to vulnerable following decades of conservation work, but they still remain at risk. [5]
The Giant Panda range
Explore the map below to see the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) range data for giant pandas. [6]
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© Wang Yue -
© Christiaan van der Hoeven / WWF-Netherlands -
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© Global Warming Images / WWF -
© Andre Dib / WWF-Brazil
How we're helping giant pandas
- Protection - we’ve helped the Chinese government, nature reserve staff, forest farms and local communities to protect panda habitats.
- Sustainable livelihoods - we’ve promoted sustainable livelihoods for over 190 communities, including beekeeping and medicinal plant cultivation, so natural resources are used sustainably.
- Connectivity – we’ve removed over 15,000 metres of artificial fences to connect subpopulations through Panda corridors because they’re crucial to the animals’ survival.
- Habitat management - we work with local communities, nature reserves and forest farms outside of the Giant Panda National Park to maintain the integrity and connectivity of panda habitats so that they can continue to thrive.
- Bamboo – WWF has planted over 50 hectares of bamboo forest in key panda habitats.
- Fuelling change – to reduce damage to panda habitats, we’ve helped install fuel efficient wood stoves and biogas systems in thousands of remote mountain households, reducing peoples need to collect fuel wood and making homes warmer and safer.
Stories from the ground
Giant panda conservation came to Li Xinrui’s life when he was just 14 years old. He attended talks organized at his school in the early days of WWF’s nature education work. Prior to this, Xinrui didn’t know much about the panda, but the talks ignited a passion in him. The seed planted by this early interest led Xinrui to his career as a ranger. Read ranger Li Xinrui’s story and discover more about Wanglang National Nature Reserve (NNR).
Adopt a Giant Panda
Adopt a Giant Panda
Your adoptions will help protect giant pandas, and will help fund our vital work around the world. When you choose an animal adoption, you are supporting both your chosen animals as well as wider work to help bring our world back to life.
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