“Somethin' tells
me it's all happening at the zoo”
I've decided to post a
picture of adorable Giant Pandas, because… well, pandas! Too cute! Plus, we're going to
see the pandas while we are in Beijing!
According to the Travel China Guide, “Giant
Pandas are classified to be an endangered species by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). According to the official report based on
1999-2000 census, There are 1,590 that live in the
wild in their natural
habitats. The number was pessimistically estimated as 1,000 several years
ago.”
The Beijing Zoo is one of the few places one can see
these amazing creatures. I am sure we will have a wonderful time.
The World Wildlife Fund has an interesting page on Giant Pandas. A few interesting facts from WWF website:
Pandas live mainly in bamboo forests high in the
mountains of western China, where they subsist almost entirely on bamboo. They
must eat from 26 to 84 pounds of it every day, a formidable task for which they
use their enlarged wrist bones that function as opposable thumbs.
A newborn panda is about the size of
a stick of butter.
Pandas play a crucial role in the
bamboo forests where they roam by spreading seeds and facilitating growth of
vegetation.
China’s Yangtze Basin region, which
holds the panda’s primary habitat, is the geographic and economic heart of
[China]. Roads and railroads are increasingly fragmenting the forest, which
isolates panda populations and prevents mating.
Forest destruction also reduces
pandas’ access to the bamboo they need to survive. The Chinese government has
established more than 50 panda reserves, but only around 61% of the country’s
panda population is protected by these reserves.
Maybe we can all adopt a panda while we're
there!
Paul Simon. “At the Zoo” 1968. At the Zoo lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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