Giant pandas are adorable. Those pandas from south central China make me smile. Do you like them?
I love pandas. They are so cute. Are they an important part of Asian culture?
Well, unfortunately, due to deforestation, farming and other issues, the giant panda are a vulnerable species, as they have been pushed out of the areas they used to inhabit.
That is sad to hear. I know that there is deforestation occurring in Amazon rainforest.
has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
The giant panda is a conservation-reliant vulnerable species. A 2007 report showed 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country. As of December 2014, 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 different countries. Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high
and their habitat.
Pandas have become important diplomatic symbols, not only to China. In a visit by Hu Jintao to Japan in May 2008, China announced the loan of two pandas to Japan. The President was quoted as saying "Giant pandas are very popular among the Japanese, and they are a symbol of the friendly ties between Japan and China." Actions that other countries take with pandas are often seen as laden with meaning. For example, British diplomats worried that a 1964 transfer of a panda from a