Wild Pandas Face Uncertainty in Southwestern China
At a reserve in southwestern China, a small group of wild pandas may be pushed closer to extinction in the wild. Researchers now report that last year’s earthquake destroyed almost a quarter of their fragile habitat.
In a recent article published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, researchers say that landslides and mudflows occurring from the May 12 earthquake have severely fragmented one of the last habitats of wild pandas. The resulting isolation from other populations puts them at risk of inbreeding, which could lead to extinction.
Lead author of the study, Weihua Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, says that the Sichuan region comprises more than half of the habitat for the world’s remaining wild pandas.
Xu estimates that more than 60 percent of the panda population - which could be as low as 35 individuals - was affected by the earthquake.
