WHERE DO PANDAS LIVE?

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Giant Pandas are solitary animals confined to the highly fragmented mountain forests found only in remote China. And because a panda’s diet consists mostly of bamboo shoots,  pandas are usually found in bamboo rich forests situated 1500 meters above sea level. However, recent research from Chinese Academy of Sciences  has managed to find out a whole lot more about where pandas live.

They generally avoid the higher peaks - as bamboo has difficulties growing in the higher altitude, as well as the lower areas which are now dominated by people.

They also tend to limit their movements to high altitude conifer forests and mixed forests, as well as historically clear-felled forest. Why? Because such areas are better for raising their young. Female pandas are now known to be selective about the choice of their den sites and often make their dens in stands of large conifer trees more than 200 years old. Furthermore, it also turns out that they prefer habitats that slope at an angle of between 10 and 20 degrees, and abandoned logging trails - though this could be an artefact of the number of roads of this type that criss-cross the region. Conversely  male pandas have been found to frequent habitat close to roads used by vehicles, perhaps due to their need to move greater distances to find prospective female mates.

The discovery could inform strategies for conserving wild pandas and releasing them back into the wild.
Dunwu Qi and Fuwen Wei of the Institute for Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and colleagues studied the movements of giant pandas within the Liangshan Mountains of south central China.

They conducted transect surveys recording the presence of pandas by sight or by their droppings. By studying the DNA in these faecal samples, the researchers were able to determine the sex of the pandas encountered.

That means they are likely to be disproportionately affected by habitat loss and people exploiting the forest.
It should also be taken into account when breeding programmes release giant pandas back into the wild.

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Photo care of http://www.ecotourism-activityguide.com/endangered%20species/pandas.htm and http://ecosalon.com/7_endangered_species_making_a_comeback/ and http://www.geekosystem.com/panda-pictures-snow/

Based on an article by http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14153997