Srvru-lClnxrvonn CoNsnnvarron TheNewsletter and Journal ol the IUCN/SSC Mustelid,Viverrid & ProcyonidSpecialist Group rucN Number18 April1998 SPrcrrs SURVTvALCoMMrssroN Redpanda lA,luflrs fulsent Phoro:lan Pryce The productionand distributionol this issuehas beensponsored by "BlijdorpZoo", Rotterdam, Holland, "Columbus *^ Zoo",Powell, Ohio, USA "Royal {*l?" andlhe ZoologicalSociety ol Antwerp",Antwerp, Betgium. Cot||t |s Zoo Svran CnnNrvoRECoNSERVATToN The Newsletterand Journal of the IUCN/SSC Mustelid,Viverrid & ProcyonidSpecialist Group Editor-in-chief: HarryVan Rompaey, Edegem, Belgiurn Associateeditor: HuwGriffiths, Hull, United Kingdom Editorial board: AngelaGlatston, Rotterdam, Netherlands MichaelRiffel, Hcidelberg, Germany Arnd Schreiber,Heidelberg, Germany RolandWirth, Miinchen, Germany 'Ihc vicwscxpressed in Ihispublicalion are those oflhe nuthorsand do nol necessnrilyretlecl llrcse ol rhcltJCN, no. the IUCN/SSC Mustelid. vivenid & ProcyonidSpecialisr Gfoup. We .re prrticl|lrrly gr.rtelulio W.rltcrRasmusscn for re,rdingthe nranuscriptsrnd irnpro!ingthc Enrlishstyle. The xi,rrol this publicalion is Lool-ltr thc mcmbcrsof rhe IIJCN/SSCMV&PSa;, rnd lhosc who rrc eonccrrrcdr!ilh nnrnclids. viverrids. rnd procyonids.bricfprpers. ncw\ irenrs.xbstr cts. and (itles ol rccrnrliter.rtufe. All re dersare inliled to \end nrateri,rlb: Small CarnivoreConservation c/o Dr, H. Van Rompaey Jan Verbertlei,l5 2650Edegem Belgiun Il i,,tlrl,,,, r!r\!lc,i |.,ne. tssN l0l9-5041 Assessmenton the cunent status of the Red panda in China FuwenWEIr, Zoujian FENGT, Zuwang WANGT, and Jinchu HUr The Red pxnl].l (AlhDur litlsprr) js consideredas a r.rre anirnrlin Chinaand. as such. is tistedin Catego.yI ofrh€ Witd AninralProtection Law. Ai lhe internartunatlevet rhis spccies is listedoo AppendixI of CITES. The red pNndais confinedto th€ soxrhenrstopes of the Himalayas(Roberls & Citrleman.t98,1: clarston, 1989, t994j Yonzon,1989) and in China is cndenrjc10 lhe Hengduanand HimNlayanmounlains. Both subspecies.,.t. I lh/.q.,i rnd A. f r/r.,'/crn befound io China,howe!c., subspcc ies .,/rzlz/ is more typicalof theregion ,1_./ /r4,.2' is tound through rhe H imatayas. in liber andthe Gongshan area ofnoflhen yrnran pro!,ince.ns ucll as to Ihc southernNujiang River.,4.l r/r?/a on thc other hand.is confinedro theHengduaD Mounlains, in Sichuanand the easternNujiang River of Yunnanprovinces (Wei & Hu, t993). Ra.Jiol?//atug ,tu r"d ?.tr./a. Pltolo. ny,"n W?i. For a long tirne. therewas nor muchexaci intb.mltion OtllyA. f fuls.tls ts foundin Tibel.where ils rangecovers a\ailableon rhered panda's jr sratus China.A( therequesr of the the counliesof Mangkang.Changdtr, Chuol.r, Nietanru, Linzhi, ilndangcrc{lSpecics Scienrific Cornnrissrmand End.rngercd St). Milin.tsomi, Chayu, rnd Moi[o (Tablcl)(Feng trdl. 1986iWci .ieslmport & ExporrAdninistrati\e p. Oiice. R.China, r survey &Hu. lg9l;Yin&Liu. 1993).Our researchcs indicn(c rhal there wasconducted!boutthe AssessmenlonResources.rnd Manage arc no red pandasin Jilong.Dingd, or yadongc({nlies $,hcre menrStalus ofRed Pand!in China ibrtheperiod I99.1 I996.The theywere repoded in drepast (lieng.,/1. 1986).Iirrttrefi)j(rc. possrblerangc of redpandas rras i'rvestigared durjngboth ycars. rherewer€ no signsof redpan&s io CibrsoutChayu counry) and ManSducounry which were tbrmeftyareas where rcd pandrs Currentdistribution couldbe seen €asily (Yin & Liu, t99l). The panda fed was disrributedin Chintr over a larger area Current habitat status than today. including westem Sichunn and yunnan, sourh€rn Shrnxi and Cansu,nodhcrn Cuizhou, and southwesrofTiber rnd Accordirg ro our sur!ey there arc 76.2,15.5kmrol ti,.esl QinghaiProvinces (Expedilion Rxre Animalsin Sichuan,1977i withinlhecurenrdislribulion ofthe red pxnda. Sichuxn has a l(nal Ireog"/1, 1986;Hu & Wan8, l98,lrcao.rdl, 1987;Kunmir)g of -15,{)88.3kmr(including 7.596.8 k :in the Minstnn Mou - InslituteoiZoology, 1989iNorthwest ptalenu Insriiuteoi Biol_ lains,7,681.3 kmrin theQbnglai Mourrains,Ii,19t.-tkm,in the ogy. 1989).Horlever. its r.rngeretrcrrcd sharplyand thc red paoda Lianghan Mountains, .1.280.4kmr in rhe Xjangtirrg Mount.rins, js now conlinedto Sichuan.Yunnan, (Fig. r and tiber t). 2,8.15-8kr in Daxueshan.and 4,.192.6 km:in rheShattrtisMn Mountaios),while Yunnaornd Tibet hnve 21.(,58.1kmr :rnd SichulDistheprimaryhometandotrheredpandainChin . 19.499.1km:, rcspecrivcly(Tabtc l). In this province irs rangeexlends fronr lhe DrxueshanMountains crstwa.dsto and rhe Qionglai Orertcr Xingling Mounlajns. Ou. recenrresearch on red pandr ccology shows rhrt this !inrrhwardsrcrossLesscrXiangtiDg intoG.caterLiangshan Moun speciesexhibits a.lcrr pretercnceto. prrticutarh.rbit.]rs (Wej ./ trins.wesl$,a s inrothe Shatutishao Mountains rnd Dorthwards l, 1995iWei, 1997).This melns lhlt not aI rorcsrareas are rntolhc MioshanN.louoruirs (Wei & Hu, 1993).Thi! distributi(nr suitableIorrcd pandas.InSichuan pro!ince. red anLIgiaDt pandas cnconrpAsessrx o1ountaroranges:Lirngshrn, X ianglin,eionglllj, (Ai/"to?r'../a,!./aadLn.d) are sympriric aod rhcir habitnl re- Minsh.tn.Daxucshan. and Shalutishrn Mountain\.a qurre'nenrs'trc similaf (Wej. 1997).In lhe pern)d t98,1,87.r sturly l'lty cotrnlies(Trblc l). However. thc Liansshan anrt Xiangtins was made ol lhe habitar requiremcntsof the girnr pandaby the Mountains contai rhc main rcd panda habitats. Minisrry of Forestry of Chjn! cooperaliDgwith thc WWF This study dernonslratesthrt. atlhoughlhe tdnt tbrcsr vajtahteto thc In Yunnan red paodas are mninly distributed in rhe follo gianl pnndawas 2lt,:ll1.8 knr. il usedan rreaofont) il.r)2j.52 tnrr. wing mountainsi Gaotigong,iv.ti Snow, Jiawu Snow. Bituo j.e.49.1%ofthchtalibrellcover(Wlng. t989). I weuscrhi!ilgurc Snow. Yunlin. Haba Snow. yulong Snow,,rnd Dak,u. Borh b estrmatclhe arer ofred pandahnbitlt in ahio{. we tind r subspeciesoccu. in tro_ rhis provincc. /1. l;lr/Benr ts lbund Io rhe bablearca of 37,,136.9krnrtl7.228..r tnr, jn Sichuanprovince. south of NuJiang Riler. in fie Dulong River Basin anrt in rhc 10.63'1.2k!n:inYunnanP()virce,and9,57.1.ltnr,ir1libei)(T.rbtc t). llimalayan hills of rhe caotigong Mounlains. This arer is con- nectcd wirh Chayu. Tiber in rhe northwe( and wjth Myannrrr Current population lBurma) in lhe southwesr.,.r.l.'./t!zrl is dtstributedcasrofNujiang stalus Rivcr It! range includes eteven counti€s: DeqiDg, Baoshan, Relativedensity of red pandrs wa\ sLlv€yedhy inveslig,r Tenschons,Lu\hui, Yunlons,Zhondjan,Lijians, jang. Fusons.Bij iion lhrough leeding signs and droppin!s teti by the nninratsin Yiliang, and Weixing (Table t). tD thc past rc<t pan<trswere dillerentcounrics of Sichuan.Yunnrn. r d Tibcr we chssilied rcportedin Xishuangblnna(Mongla (G{o counry) d/, 1987). ihedcnsity in differenrcounlies in li)urcrlcgorics:h;gh. nritium. This was not confi.med by our invesligarions. low. andvery low (Table1). l)lrnnethc p{sl lcw d.c{dcs.the nu rh.rofred p,rndash.rs 1990). ln Grnzi AutononrousArcr of rhe same provincc, 120 ,lr. ri.il rrpidir due () i cfelsi g h un activityand massive nrillion m' oi forest consumed ovcr 30 years, h,rr,I r Lo\s.lti\e\limltcdthatlheirnuDrbersmllyhavedecr€asedwhich is 289. oi curcnt tifest growth (Li & Yang. 1990). Ir h\ r. rrrch rs.l0% olef the hst 50 ]ears. Toinl l'oputarion Liangshln. anolherprimc areafor lhe red pand . 21.8 nrillion rtt firrh.r\ cslrmaledare about 6.0(X)7,000 red pandasin Chira oflbrcsl resourceswerc swallowedup olcr fic hsr l5 yenrs.This rl.0olr 1.4(I) i. Si.hu.rn.l,6tU-2.{n0 in Yunnan,and l,.l0G constrlutcsl0% ofcurrcnr presentfbresr growlh (227.07 niltion 1.6{)(rIn Tihet). lrlr). In rhe Sichuanparr of the red pandn s rangc,22 big for€st.y enlerpnsesconsumcd up 3.597.9klnrol rcd pandahabitat in the F('ssil cvidence indicates th red pandas formerty oc, last 25 years.This represents20.9% of currenrred pandahNhrtar ('rrred ir lhe Wultnr areaol Hubci Province.rhc Xichou areaof in Sichurn. l'he rateol li'rcst lossin the uppcr reg(nr of Min river, )Lrr|rrn llovince, .lnd lhe FuminheRiver and Zijin ireas of prinrercd pnndahabitar,declined iionr 107. in thc lS50s ro 18.8s. (;!r/h,trr l)|ovince(Xu z/z/, 1957).No red prndasare fbund in jn ihe 1980s(l-i& Yang,lq90). Similxrly, li)rest k)ss in rheYa an rlr..c rr.r\ l{Jdry.To d!te. pandnshave h€come extin.t in Shanxi, reSionhrs declinedby 25%.hy l4 l7 in Mianlans.try 12.4%;n (;xn\u. Qingh!i. andcuizhou. andhave disappeared lrom parrsof Lcrjiang.by l:1.2,1in Namchong.andbyI57. in wanrirn (l,iaog. rhc Qinschnxn and Ji,rngyoucounties of SichuanProvince. Only l99l)).Ilowever. the silrntion is inprovinggr.rdually. loday (hc .Ll.$ r(l prnd s cao be f()und in Yangliubr ofPinwu counry,rhe Chinesegovcrnment is also paying more nrtenti r tt) allbresta- ,.! ,,ri$ l,rchw6 Lhctype hcality of Sty{.'s tanda{wei & Hn. tion- According to curcDt datn.the t(nrl rrca ol .eafiirestation in l!r rr l,r rhc 1960s,rcd pandas were fbund in rheLushnn rrea ol' wesrc.nSi€hunn is oler 70.001)ha. Total r.!lfin.esred arensnos \ " , l i,,nr.||!nM,,u t., r\. hut rhiy !re nnq r\rin.l covef 200,001)hr in lfie s:rnrearcr (l.iaDg. 1990). I his rcpresenr\ a veryposlrvc nep bwards mrintainingtbre( cover.Ift)wever. I)r'ln|!st.ui(n)i\ rhclundamentallhreal l(' redpandl habi- il musl be renrcnrheredthat li)ren rcnewal is a lon8 proccssard r.LrLI rl,iIstcriod.Nnnu l li)restconsum pr ion was nruchhighcr lhat mrn mlde f(ne(s nllry nor easily lend thenrscllcs tr) hnbilx rlrrrrrnfLrirl lorest growth. This lcd k).r sharpdccline in foresr tn)n hy red pandrs. .ntrr(.\ ,^.cordingn) the litemturc,thcre wefe l2l liJrcslry .,,r.'riri\c(wrrh o!er 70.(XI)strll acri!e in Sichuanpro!in.e ar Poachingisrnotherthreai rorcd pNndls. astheirfuris used h. I rl ol 1985(l-i & Y.rns.1990). In rheyexrs bcrween 1958- ro nrake hrts lnd clo(hing by k'crl peofle. Tfie lur-hal with its Lrhrl.