Giant+Panda+2

==== Giant Panda (//Ailuropoda melanoleuca)// is an endangered species that lives in southwestern China, mostly in Mishan Mountains, the biggest plateau in the world, and Qinling Mountains. Before human population increased in this area, giant pandas had spread from southern China to eastern China, and there was a small number of pandas also in Myanmar and Vietnam. The decrease of their habitat area is one of the main concerns. Today there are less than 2 000 pandas in the wild. ====

====Giant Panda is a caniform (bear-like animal) that is easy to recognize from its white fur and black eyes, black shoulders and black legs. The thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in the cool forests it lives in. It is about the size of an American black bear. ====

==== Primarily pandas' eating habits are like herbivores': the main source of energy is bamboo. Sometimes pandas also eat rodents. Pandas that live in zoos also eat sugar canes, apples and sweet potatoes. Wild panda eats from 9 to 14 kilos bamboo per day and thus they can spend over 10 hours eating. Pandas eat while they sit upright which reminds a human in a sitting position. ====

====Giant panda is an endangered species the future of which is very uncertain because of the fast economical development in China. Nowadays fast technological development helps to preserve this unique animal. Researchers are able to learn about pandas' behavior and natural environment, and that way are better able to help and protect pandas, and keep them from dying in extinction. Most of the information gathered comes from pandas that live in zoos (about 100 individuals) because wild pandas are much more difficult to follow and research due to their rarity. One of today's main concerns is the fact that pandas are not likely to mate in zoos. Researchers have been trying to find the reason for this, but it is still unknown. The dangerously small birthrate is a severe problem also with wild pandas. ====

Pandas and humans
====In China pandas were and are thought of as rare and special animals. They are highly respected, and the government of China does its best to conserve them. They have always been very valuable; from ancient times they have been used as diplomatic gifts from country to another, and people have also been buried with panda skulls, as the egyptians did with other animals' bones. But the panda has until today been a chinese speciality: the first western person to see a panda was a german man in 1916, who purchased a giant panda for himself. The first panda taken abroad was a panda named Su Lin, who was taken to the Brookfield zoo in Chicago in 1936. Two years later five pandas were taken to London. ====

**In politics [[image:http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/23/xin_42212052313598282551539.jpg align="right"]]**
==== The pandas' status as a diplomatic gift still lives on: From 1958 to 1982, China gave 23 pandas to nine different countries. One highlight of panda diplomacy was the Chinese government's gift to the United States in 1972: ==== ====two pandas named Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing. Two years later China gave two pandas, Ching-Ching and Chia-Chia to the London Zoo due to the prime minister's request. ==== ====China also lends pandas to other countries. Currently there are two pandas loaned from China to Japan, and they have been called “the symbol of friendly ties between Japan and China.” ====

==== China has also used Panda with the Taiwan-issue. In 2005, after a meeting between China and Taiwan, China offered two pandas (Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, which together mean "Unite") as “a gift to the people of Taiwan”. ====

==== While the Taiwanese public was thrilled, the government of Taiwan opposed, since they saw the gift of pandas as an attempt to unify Taiwan and China. Several zoos in Taiwan offered to take the pandas, but the government declined the offer. They said that pandas were not suited to the Taiwanese climate and that Taiwan did not have the experts needed to take care of the pandas. It was widely understood that this was a political decision to maintain distance to China. ====

==== But, in July 2008, the governmen t stated that it would accept the gift of two giant pandas. In December 2008, the government app roved the import of pandas, and they were successively transported to Taiwan. ====

==== The giant panda is also the logo of the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), which is an organization that works on nature conservation, research and restoration. The logo originates form a panda, Chi Chi, that was given to the London Zoo the same year as WWF was founded. ====

By Heta and Nea