3rd Ld Writethru-Xinhua Insight: Wild giant panda population surges, survival risks remain

An official survey on Saturday reported that the population of pandas in the wild had increased and favorable environment measures had boosted habitat. However, it was not all good news as the lives of some 223 giant pandas were at risk.

GROWING POPULATION

By the end of 2013 there were 1,864 giant pandas living in the wild, an increase of 268, or 16.8 percent, over a previous survey conducted in 2003, according to the State Forestry Administration (SFA).

Panda habitat expanded by 11.8 percent to 2.58 million hectares from 2003.

There were 375 giant pandas in captivity in China by the end of 2013, including 166 males and 209 females. This is an increase of 211, or 128.7 percent, from 2003, the SFA said.

The survey attributed the population boom to conservation efforts.

The implementation of a series of ecological initiatives, including the grain for green project as well as wildlife protection, have helped boost the number of giant pandas.

Wild giant pandas are found in six mountain ranges -- Qingling, Minshan, Qionglaishan, Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling and Liangshan, covering 49 counties in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

Southwestern Sichuan is home to the biggest giant panda population, at 1,347, accounting for about three quarters of the total

Due to collaborative research on giant pandas, 42 adults and cubs were living overseas in 12 countries by June 2014 .

China has collaborated with 17 zoos in Japan, the United States, Austria, Thailand, Spain, Australia, Britain, France, Singapore, Canada, Belgium and Malaysia,

The survey, China's fourth, covered 4.36 million hectares and was conducted between 2011 and 2014. It took 2,000 people 60,000 days to complete it.

The first survey in 1976, indicated that 2,000 giant pandas were living in the wild. This number had dropped to 1,114 by the 1980s, according to the second survey.

RISKS IN THE WILD

The survey also sounded an alarming note for protection of the highly endangered mammal.

The survey found that the survival of 223 wild giant pandas was deemed at high risk. They live in 24 isolated groups and account for 12 percent of the wild population.

As a result of geographic isolation and human intervention, there are only 33 isolated groups of giant pandas. Of those, 22 groups, with less than 30 individuals, were found to be "on the brink of extinction".

Those 18 groups with less than 10 individuals were "at extreme high risk of extinction".

The futures of another two isolated populations in south Minshan and the middle Daxiangling mountains is also in doubt due to the small size, low reproduction rate and the damage caused by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.

"There are outstanding conflicts between the protection of the giant pandas and their habitats, and local socioeconomic development," said Chen Fengxue, deputy head of the SFA, at a press conference.

Habitat fragmentation is the major factor threatening the survival of giant pandas. The survey identified the construction of 319 hydropower plants, 1,339 km of roads, 268.7 km of high-voltage transmission lines, 984 residential areas, 479 mines and 25 tourist attractions as major disturbances to the animal's habitat.

Due to geographical and managerial inconsistencies, breeding center exchanges are failing to increase genetic diversity and resiliency of the animals.

In some areas, a lack of funding and under developed employee technical capacity has held back giant panda protection achievements, the survey found.

CAPTIVE-BRED PANDA RISKS

Although some wild giant pandas face survival risks, Chinese researchers have been working hard to release more captive-bred pandas to the wild.

Thanks to breeding developments, the number of captive-bred giant pandas around the world is increasing.

But researchers found that captive-bred panda's have lower genetic diversity than their wild kin, Zhang Hemin, director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Saturday.

Zhang is known as the "father of giant pandas".

Genetic diversity is integral to the survival and adaptability of a species.

Thus, wilderness training of giant pandas is necessary, Zhang said, to ensure the species does not die out.

Since 2010, the Sichuan-based center began to limit the number of newborns to 15 each year to ensure quality. Half must participate in the wilderness training programs.

"Pandas are not pets. The purpose of panda research is to help them return to the wild. Leaving them alone is the best way to protect them," he said.

Another challenge is disease. In late 2014, four pandas in Shaanxi Province died from canine distemper virus (CDV).

"Risks remain. Once a giant panda is infected with CDV, fatality is highly likely," said Li Desheng, vice director of the center. He called on people to pay more attention to disease prevention; otherwise protection efforts will have been in vain. Endi