Pandas Essay -- essays research papers fc

The giant panda only exists at present in 6 small areas located in inland China. The habitat, suitable for the bamboo on which it survives, is a cold, damp coniferousforest. The elevation ranges from 1,200 to 3,400 meters high. In most of the areas inwhich they still freewheel wild, they must compete with farmers who farm the river valleysand the lower slopes of the mountains. It is estimated that there are somewhere around700 and 1,000 giant pandas still alive in the wild. Because of their reliance on bambooas their primary food, they will remain in significant danger unless their present habitat isexpanded. The differing varieties of bamboo go through periodic die-offs as part of theirrenewal cycle. Without the business leader 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 bambooalso put the giant pandas in more direct contact with farmers and poachers as the bearstry to find new areas in whi ch to feed. Pandas have few natural enemies other than man, so the life-span of giant pandasin the wild is thought to be twenty-five years or more. Giant pandas have forepaws which are extremely flexible. Evolution has giventhem an enlarged wrist devise that works in the manner of an opposable thumb. Thishighly functional adaptation allows the giant panda to manipulate their primary foodsource, bamboo stems ...