DJ Geribo

The Panda - living mainly in forests of southwest China, they subsist almost entirely on bamboo, consuming 26-84 pounds of it a day. The newborn is about the size of a stick of butter. But when fully grown, the females can weigh up to 200 lbs and the males around 300 lbs on a four-foot frame. Despite their bulky size, Pandas are great tree climbers.

Because of the biological diversity of their habitat, rivaling that of tropical ecosystems, when Pandas are protected so are a variety of other species such as golden monkey and crested ibis.

Obviously the biggest threat to Pandas, like so many other species, is habitat destruction. Infrastructure development in the Yangtze Basin in China is fragmenting and isolating Panda populations, preventing them from finding food sources and potential mates. Forest loss also reduces their access to the bamboo that they need to survive.