OZ AM S O W 12 MAMMALS BACK FROM THE BRINK by Nancy Furstinger STORY LIBRARY
GIANT PANDAS RELEASED INTO BAMBOO FORESTS Giant pandas don't start out giant They weigh the same as a stick of butter at birth Panda cubs fur is They use their powerful jaws and sharp teeth to crush the shoots and leaves But when bamboo trees became harder to find so did the pandas snowy white After several weeks they start growing patches of black fur Adult giant pandas spend 12 hours a day eating On Giant pandas used to live all across southern the menu is bamboo and eastern Pandas are great climbers Sometimes they even sleep in
IUCN RED LIST The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN keeps a list of all threatened species in the world called the Red List Each species is labeled according to how at risk it is Least Concern Not considered at risk Near Threatened At risk of being vulnerable or endangered in the future Vulnerable At risk of extinction Endangered At high risk of extinction Critically Endangered At extremely high risk of extinction Extinct in the Wild Only lives in captivity Extinct No members of a species are left China They searched forests for bamboo to plant crops The pandas bamboo They found it on high had less food to eat Hunters also slopes in summer They found it in killed many pandas By the 1970s the valleys in winter But China's approximately 1 000 pandas were population was growing As more left in the wild and more people lived in the country China set aside land for the pandas they developed land where pandas starting in the 1960s It created had lived Farmers plowed down the strips of land known as bamboo trails Giant pandas can follow them to the mountains China also started a captive breeding program 300 Weight in pounds 136 kg of an adult giant panda Some baby pandas born in zoos are released into the wild as adults The Status Endangered Population Approximately 2 000 Home China Life Span 14 20 years government has also cracked down on illegal hunting An estimated 2 000 giant pandas live in the mountains of China and another 200 live in
