Giant panda makes a stunning comeback as China marks 40% rise in numbers

[CShine]

The giant panda is in better shape than anyone realised, the most thorough census yet of the species has indicated. In the bamboo forests of southern China there are nearly 1,600 individuals, an increase of more than 40 per cent on estimates from the past 30 years.

The previous panda survey, in the 1980s, estimated about 1,100 animals in the wild, about the same population that was estimated in the first survey of the giant panda in the 1970s. The latest census was more extensive and thorough, said the global environment network WWF, formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Stuart Chapman, head of species for WWF-UK, said the apparent increase in panda numbers is probably due to a combination of better counting methods and a genuine increase in the wild population.

"We have been further, higher and deeper into panda habitat than ever before, finding panda populations that were not known to science," Mr Chapman said. "Hearing about the findings was like all my Christmases rolled into one. We've got a second chance and you don't often get a second chance in conservation."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=530304

[TahitiNut]

1. This is wonderful news!

Wouldn't it be nice if the rest of the world's threatened and endangered species were just as "cute"?

[Quahog]

2. YES!!

Go panda! Go panda!

I am a long-time financial supporter of the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES), part of the Zoological Society of San Diego. Happy stories like these are few in the world of wildlife conservation. What fantastic news.

[Minstrel Boy]

3. I dunno...

something about this just doesn't sit right.

[xchrom]

4. now that's great news!

[Karenina]

5. HOORAY!!!

:kick: for GOOD NEWS!!!

[proud patriot]

6. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ! ! ! ! !

Oh this makes me so happy .

Thanks for all the hard work everyone who
helped to turn the decline around.

Woo Hoo :toast: :bounce: :toast:

[MrBadExample]

7. Yay!

Also, baby panda:

[The_Gopher]

8. Yay! you know what this means...time to bust out the ol' panda gun!

[Massacure]

9. I still have my panda too :)

I've had it as long as I remember. Too bad it is only a stuffed animal though. :(

I'm glad to see that the panda is making a return in the wild though.

[bushwakker]

10. Great, now we can kill 'em and grill 'em !! - Ted Nugent

[blindpig]

11. let's just hope.....

that this is not used as an excuse to decrease protection! The only reason the Chinese gov engages in any conservation is for Western $ and approval. As we have seen with rhinos populations numbers like this can be poached away over night.

[wickerwoman]

15. Yes, we all know only Westerners care about the environment.

And of course any gains in the protection of endangered species must be the result of the hard work of rich Westerners investing money from thousands of miles away to stop those greedy brown poachers and the tyrannies that enable them.

[blindpig]

17. please

I think we've been around on this before. Your not too subtle accusation of racism is greatly resented. The Chinese governments dedication to environmental concerns is about equal to that of our current regime. If I rail against the madness of king george are not equal malefactors deserving the same treatment? Consider Three Gorges, what a nightmare! Contrary to a previous argument you made the rape of the worlds freshwater turtle population is directly attributable to the Chinese domestic market, just check out CITES. The one really good thing China was doing, the one child family program(something the whole world needs to do), is falling by the wayside due to popular opposition.
China's use of the most charismatic of megafauna I see as a cynical ploy to put a good face on the same sort of nature rape that this country indulged in for 200 years. The Yangtze dolphin and Chinese alligator will be extinct in the wild within the decade. China's freshwater turtle population, once great and diverse, has been bled white. Nothing to see here, move along.
No doubt many Chinese people are concerned about this. Their concern has about much effect as mine does with bu$h.
It's all PR, bucko. The Chinese government is concerned about the environment to the same degree as bu$he$. Clear Skies, anyone?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. The panda's evolutionary strength: cuteness!

If you know anything at all about biologic evolution you'll realize this is actually not a joke.

[Lisa]

13. charismatic megafauna!

Survival of those who look good on T-shirts ...

[DivinBreuvage]

14. This ought to scare you to death

Today Pandas are reproducing like rabbits. Tomorrow massive waves of Panda infantry will erupt from the East in a godless quest to destroy Democracy and Free Enterprise.

For the love of God! Are all of you blind to the inscrutable menace of the black-and-white peril?



Attack, my Panda Brethren! The glorious morning of the Pandatariat is at hand!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. Better, but still not outta the woods...

I hope they continue to protect them...