A Vanishing Species

A Vanishing Species In a gesture intended to improve its strained and often acrimonious relationship with the United States, the Chinese government presented a pair of giant pandas to President Nixon in 1972. Not only did the gift engender warmer diplomatic relations between the two countries, Ling‐Ling and Hsing‐Hsing became instant celebrities, triggering America’s infatuation with giant pandas. Resembling enormous, cuddly, black‐and‐white teddy bears with round, flat faces and large eye patches, giant pandas have become quite popular. Every city with a large zoo wants them because of the crowds they draw. In 1988, for example, the Toledo zoo paid China several hundred thousand dollars to rent a pair of pandas for five months. The public’s desire for zoo tickets and panda‐related products seemed insatiable. The zoo took in over three million dollars and the city estimated that tourists drawn to the attraction brought in over sixty million dollars. Zoos rent giant pandas, most often from China, but also from other American zoos, because the panda population is so limited and their sale is severely restricted by law. According to the best estimates of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an organization that protects endangered species, fewer than a thousand pandas are left in the wild. There are about 140 pandas in captivity, mainly in China’s research or reserve centers. Giant pandas are indigenous to southeastern China, where a thousand years ago they roamed freely over two million square miles. Now restricted to small enclaves in China, wild pandas inhabit less than a quarter of 1 percent of that area. Only three of these regions have populations exceeding one hundred, and some fewer than twenty. The panda population is shrinking partially because its food supply has decreased. Pandas rely on the leaves and stalks of the arrow bamboo, which form the bulk of their diet. Every fifty or sixty years, however, the bamboo dies. Following large‐scale bamboo die‐ offs in 1983, Chinese wildlife officials found the emaciated bodies of 138 pandas. All had starved to death. The giant panda’s plight is exacerbated by such predators as the leopard, the Asiatic wild dog, and the brown bear, but the greatest threat comes from human poachers. Although the Chinese government tries to protect the remaining giant pandas by designating penalties of life imprisonment or even death for poachers, the illicit trade in skins and live pandas continues. Poachers typically make about $3,000 for each panda skin they sell to a dealer, who sells it for $10,000. One dealer offered two live cubs to a WWF official who was posing as a customer. The asking price was $112, 000! The Chinese government also fights extinction by assisting with the births of panda cubs in captivity. Chinese experts are the leading authorities on panda reproduction, and they provide advice and assistance to zoos trying to breed pandas. Kay and George Schaller, a wife and husband team active with the WWF, are ambivalent about the value of such programs because panda cubs born in captivity rarely survive. The Schallers believe that it may be too late to reverse the inexorable decline in the world’s panda population. But despite their pessimism they continue to proselytize on the panda’s behalf through books, articles, speeches, and television appearances, believing that raising the public’s awareness of the panda’s plight may help to save it. In 1992, Ling‐Ling died and this marked the cessation of Washington National Zoo’s breeding program. She had given birth five times, but each cub died from infections within days. Then the San Diego Zoo took up the challenge, and in 1996 it received from China two giant pandas, a female named Bai Yun and a male name Shi Shi. Three years later, Bai Yun gave birth to a baby “no bigger than a stick of butter.” Hua Mei, the first panda bred successfully in North America, survived and on August 21, 2000, celebrated its first birthday. By then it weighed sixty pounds. One small success does not mean that the giant panda’s fight for survival has been won. The millions who flock to zoos to observe these rare creatures might reflect on the poignant fact that one day, perhaps sooner than we think, they may vanish from the earth. Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence. Whenever a vocabulary word does not appear in the question, use one (or a form of one) in your answer. In a few cases, both question and answer may contain vocabulary words. 1. How are leopards, human poachers, and other predators affecting the giant panda’s situation? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Where can pandas be found in the wild? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Why are pandas not found in the wild anywhere in the world outside China? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 4. What poignant discovery did Chinese game wardens make in 1983? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 5. How do we know that the 138 pandas had starved to death? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 6. What actions did the Chinese government take that it hoped would lead to the cessation of poaching? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Why do panda poachers continue to operate despite severe penalties? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Why do World Wildlife Fund members feel such acrimony toward the poachers? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Why would it be inaccurate to say that the Schallers are infatuated with giant pandas? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 10. How many cubs did Ling‐Ling and Hsing‐Hsing produce over the years? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 11. Why do the Schallers not proselytize against zoo breeding programs? ___________________________________________________________________________________ 12. Why do you think people have such and affinity to pandas? ___________________________________________________________________________________ .

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