Back From The Brink, Giant Panda

The giant panda previously ranged “throughout most of southern and eastern China, with fossils indicating presence as far south as northern Myanmar and northern Viet Nam and stretching north nearly to Beijing. Another related species, the pygmy giant panda, now extinct, also once existed in this area.”  Significant climatic changes, cultivation of habitats, and hunting caused the giant panda's range to shrink.  In 1979, the Chinese government invited the international conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to coorperate on conservation and help save the giant panda. Since the 1970s, giant panda numbers have risen by 17 percent, from 1,000 to 1,864 in the wild.