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Hou Yan, staff of the Guobayan conservation station in Fengtongzhai State Natural Reserve, feeds a giant panda named Yanlin, in Baoxing County of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 15, 2006. Yanlin, the 15-year-old female panda rescued by farmers in March was getting recovered from the infection of the upper respiratory tract. Currently, about 140 giant pandas live in the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve in Baoxing County, where the world's first giant panda was discovered in 1869. The conservation stations in Fengtongzhai were established in the early 1980s. The station has saved more than 100 giant pandas so far. The staff members spent over 20 days monthly in patrolling the mountains to monitor the wild giant pandas and rescue the sick ones. [Xinhua Photo]
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Wang Bangjun(front), leader of the Guobayan conservation station in Fengtongzhai State Natural Reserve, prepares medicine for a giant panda named Yanlin, in Baoxing County of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 15, 2006. [Xinhua Photo]
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Zhang Xianlin(front) and Peng Xuewei, staff members of the Guobayan protecting station in Fengtongzhai State Natural Reserve, patrol in the mountains in Baoxing County of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 15, 2006. [Xinhua Photo]
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The undated photo shows the staff members of Fengtongzhai State Natural Reserve carry a sick giant panda in Baoxing County of Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Currently, more than 140 giant pandas live in the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve in Baoxing County, where the world's first giant panda was discovered in 1869. [Xinhua Photo]
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A just-closed research suggests that China might have more giant pandas living in the wild than the previous estimates.
The research, jointly carried out by the Institute of Zoology (IOZ), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Wanglang Nature Reserve, Sichuan Forestry Department and Cardiff University of the United Kingdom, has found that the number of wild pandas in the Wanglang Nature Reserve, southwest China's Sichuan Province, climbs to 66. The research is published on the June 20 issue of Current Biology.
Back in 2002, a national survey put the giant pandas population in the same reserve at 27, says Wei Fuwen, director of the Center for Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, IOZ, who has lead the team in the past two years.
The research has utilized noninvasive techniques, including micro satellite DNA profiles from 370-plus fecal samples collected at the reserve and neighboring regions, Wei explains.
Traditionally, census on giant pandas relies on the analysis of bite size of bamboos found in their feces combined with their home-range, which is hard to track, explains Wei.
Since the 1970s, China has carried out three national surveys on giant pandas. The first two found declines in panda population across their range in southwestern China.
However, the third survey, completed in 2002, showed for the first time a recovery of the endangered species, thanks to protection measures taken by the Chinese government, including the setting up of a network of nature reserves and strictly enforced prohibition on poaching and deforestation.
In another promising development, the research indicates that the giant panda may have a significantly better chance of long-term viability than recently expected.
"By using the new technique, we have obtained a comprehensive record of the 'genetic ID card' of giant pandas living in the Wanglang Nature Reserve, with the data we can monitor the population trend if the work can be continued", Wei says.
In a follow-up, Wei's team will extend their research into other nature reserves this year, including the Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province.
The 2002 census showed that there were 1,596 wild giant pandas living across China, mainly in the more than 40 nature reserves in Shaanxi, Sichuan and Gansu provinces. The number of captive giant pandas was 161.
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