In September 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced that the giant panda had changed from an endangered species to a vulnerable species, which represented the success of the conservation and breeding plan implemented by the mainland over the years, and the giant panda was temporarily safe.
The giant panda has been downgraded from endangered to vulnerable
Surprisingly, the giant panda is safe, but the red panda is almost gone, because it was upgraded to "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2015.
This can't help but make people sigh, is cuteness also a "sin"?
Giant pandas and red pandas
Both giant pandas and red pandas are carnivorous animals, which means that they both ate meat when they were born. However, in the drastic changes in the environment later, in order to survive, both had to choose bamboo as the main food. This particular change in diet makes them highly researched.
Red pandas also eat bamboo
According to the data, the living areas of the two animals are actually similar, such as in the Hengduan Mountains of western Sichuan, and the two are basically distributed in the Minshan, Daxiangling, Liangshan and other mountain systems.
As for the relationship between the two in origin and evolution, it has also caused a lot of debate in academia. According to research, the ancestors of the giant panda were separated from the ancestral bears in the Miocene strata, and over the course of its long evolution, its size continued to shrink until it became what we see now.
The evolution of giant pandas
The red panda was initially classified as a raccoon animal, but with the emergence of morphological, biochemical, molecular and other evidence, many people believe that it is actually related to bears, which means that it and the giant panda were indeed relatives before, but the two had "gone their separate ways" in the late Cenozoic Oligocene.
It is worth mentioning that although they mainly eat bamboo, there is a clear difference in the amount of food they eat. The bamboo needed for a panda to eat may be enough for a group of red pandas to eat for a few days.
Of course, in the case of more abundant bamboo, the food competition between the two is not so obvious.
There is a certain difference in the amount of food eaten between the two
In general, giant pandas and red pandas are still relatively similar in ecological habits, so many breeding and protection bases have both giant pandas and red pandas, and the range of activities of red pandas is relatively free.
However, since they live under "one roof", why are giant pandas gradually safer in protection, but red pandas are endangered?
Why are red pandas endangered again?
Red pandas, also known as red pandas, often live in evergreen broad-leaved forests below 3,000 meters above sea level, feeding on bamboo.
Red pandas are also called red pandas
The mainland's red pandas were previously widely distributed in Tibet, Yunnan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places, but now only Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet can be seen.
According to Wikipedia, China's red panda population has declined by 40% in the past 50 years.
In addition to its distribution in the mainland, red pandas are actually distributed in Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, India and other countries, but their numbers are also very rare.
As for why the red panda is endangered, it is actually caused by a combination of reasons. The first is that their habitat is constantly decreasing. According to the 2004 article "Status and Protection of Red Panda Resources", the forest area of the global red panda distribution area at that time totaled 142,400 square kilometers.
Red panda habitat area is decreasing
With the increase in the number of humans and the expansion of territory, the habitat area of red pandas should be much smaller today. At present, their habitat distribution area in the wild is constantly retreating towards the alpine valley, and they feel that they have been "forced to Liangshan" by people.
Data show that in the distribution area of Sichuan red pandas, only 22 large forest enterprises have harvested 3597.9 square kilometers of forest in 25 years, accounting for 20.9% of the existing red panda habitat area.
In addition to shrinking area, there are also major problems in the distribution of red panda habitat and environmental quality. In terms of habitat distribution, it shows the characteristics of fragmentation and fragmentation, such as the red panda habitat in India, which has become "island-like" because of human activities and intervention.
The habitat of red pandas is disturbed by different external factors
In addition to selling red pandas as pets, poachers will kill them and then strip off their fur for sale. In this way, countless red pandas were made into hats or neckbands, which became beautiful decorations on people's bodies.
According to the data, the police in Leshan, Sichuan, previously cracked a case of poaching red pandas, and found a total of 63 live red pandas. When the police interrogated the criminal gang, they found that the value of the red panda has doubled from 2020 to the present.
The suspect said that the transaction price of each red panda in 2020 was about 50,000 yuan, and in 2021, it was 135,000 yuan, and now it has risen to 350,000 yuan.
Some criminals poach red pandas
It is not difficult to see that as the value of red pandas rises, more people use them as a tool to make a fortune, trying their best to find them in the wild and hunt them, which makes the survival of wild red pandas more difficult.
It should be noted that any hunting of red pandas, or the use of "kidnapping instead of buying" to keep red pandas as pets is illegal. Therefore, don't let anyone think about it just because it's too cute.
Finally, there is the limitation of the breeding characteristics of red pandas, don't look at them as small, but they do not accept "arranged marriages".
Simply put, even if the staff in the reserve deliberately arrange two red pandas of different sexes to live together, they may not mate. Because the red panda prefers to pick its own objects, if it feels that it is not right, it will refuse to mate.
Red pandas don't like "arranged marriages"
Moreover, as the habitat shrinks, a large number of red pandas belonging to the same family live in a narrow range, and when it comes to the breeding period, there will always be "inbreeding", which is difficult to avoid.
As inbreeding becomes more serious, the genetic diversity of red pandas is severely affected, making them unable to better adapt to their new environment. In the "survival of the fittest" wild, insufficient adaptability means that sooner or later it will be eliminated.
It should be noted that although the red panda has long been listed as an endangered animal, the specific number of the population has not yet been determined. Because there will always be people who recognize other animals as red pandas, such as small raccoons.
Red pandas and little raccoons look a little alike
According to rough statistics, there are only about 10,000 red pandas left in the wild worldwide, and the number of red pandas in China was 3,000 to 7,000 in 1999, and now it should be much less under the influence of various factors.
So, what can we do to save these cute little creatures?
The cute red panda needs to be saved
How to save red pandas?
The first is to restore the habitat of red pandas in an orderly manner, so that they can live in the wild.
As the panda habitat is gradually restored, the red pandas that belong to it are also taken care of, but this is still not enough. Because after the giant panda is in a safe position, the intensity of relevant recovery measures may decrease, and the red panda needs to be focused on now.
Data show that the protected area of red panda habitat needs to be further expanded, and the protected area of red panda habitat in mainland China only accounts for 42.4% of the total habitat area in mainland China, and more than half of the habitat is still unprotected.
Red pandas that need priority protection are suitable habitats
The second is artificial breeding.
At present, there are similar actions in many protected areas, but because the red panda itself is more "picky", marriage matching has always been a headache. But as long as they are successfully bonded, the staff can help them care for their offspring, and in this case, the survival rate of red panda cubs has improved significantly.
Finally, everyone should establish the concept of protecting endangered animals, whether in zoos or in the wild, when you see red pandas, do not easily step forward to pet them. Because the character of red pandas is still relatively shy, very afraid of life, excessive human contact may make them have a stress response.
Protecting endangered animals starts with you and me