Pandas threatened* by man, not bamboo

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 24

Pandas threatened* by man, not bamboo

By

BRENDA WATSON

of

the Associated Press Frankfurt China’s beloved giant pandas weathering “bamboo crisis” better than expected but still faced man-made hazards, said a noted United States zoologist. About 1000 pandas re- ( mained in the wilds of China, the only country to which they are indigenous, said Dr. George Schaller, co-director of a panda research project in China’s Sichuan province. The project was estab-

lished in 1980 under the auspices of the private international organisation, World Wildlife Fund, in conjunction with the Chinese Government to study the giant panda and try to save it from extinction. Archaeologists believe giant pandas have existed for at least three million years, Dr Schaller said. He said he and his Chinese counterpart, Dr Hu Jinchu, were the only ones to have seen the area where arrow bamboo, one of three types of bamboo on which pandas subsist, was dying. The bamboo began to flower and die last year, making it inedible and causing fears that pandas would starve to death.

But the crisis was not as widespread as believed, Dr Schaller said. Pandas were managing to hunt out other patches of the food. He dispelled news media reports last year that “gave the impression that most pandas are stumbling round starving.” Last winter, only 20 pandas were found dead, and not all died of starvation, Dr Schaller told reporters while visiting Frankfurt to address a group of environmentalists. By comparison, 138 pandas perished between 1974 and 1976 when another type of bamboo began dying off. The' zoologist said man posed a longer-term threat to the pandas.

Farming and logging were eliminating patches of bamboo in the lowlands, where the pandas normally went when bamboo at higher elevations became scarce, he said.

. Some pandas were also caught in traps set by hunters to catch musk deer, Dr Schaller said. He said he did not know the total . budget, of the research project, but said the Chinese Government had already given the equivalent of ?4.1 million. The research team has managed to catch seven pandas so far and outfit them with radio-tracking devices to help scientists collect data.-about the animals’ habits.