WHEN WWF was choosing its logo in the 1960s, it was an easy decision. The founders needed something recognisable across language barriers, a universally loved symbol. 鈥淲e also wanted an animal that had an impact in black and white to save money on printing costs,鈥� co-founder Peter Scott said at the time.
The giant panda has since become the poster child for all endangered species. In the past 20 years, half its habitat has disappeared in its native China. Pandas鈥� sole food source, flowering bamboo, periodically collapses, and their pelts make them a target for poaching. Also, it sometimes seems that pandas are incapable of helping themselves: they are uniquely difficult to breed in captivity, and females give birth every other year at best.
But things are looking up for these cuddly bears. For starters, numbers of wild pandas may have been underestimated by half. The tried-and-tested way to gauge a panda population is to examine their faeces and identify individuals by bite marks on half-digested bamboo. The last survey, in 2003, suggested that 1596 bears remained in China. This week, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing doubled the estimate, basing it instead on DNA fingerprinting of panda faeces in a key nature reserve, and suggested that there may be up to 3000 wild pandas in China (Current Biology, vol 16, p 452). 鈥淲e have to be cautious,鈥� says co-author Michael Bruford at the University of Cardiff, UK, 鈥渂ut it is certainly true that the situation isn鈥檛 as bad as we thought.鈥�
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Populations in zoos are growing, too. Last week, the Chinese government announced a record number of 183 captive pandas. In one centre, an unprecedented 16 cubs were born in 2005. Of course, releasing bears back to the wild is the goal, and in April China set free its first captive-bred panda.
These successes did not happen overnight, says Jo Gayle Howard, an animal reproduction specialist at the National Zoo in Washington DC, where panda cub Tai Shan was born last year. US and Chinese scientists have been working together on pandas鈥� mating behaviour and biology for a decade.
One of the trickiest obstacles has been pinpointing the timing of female ovulation, as it happens only once a year for 24 to 48 hours. Biologists have also had to learn how to handle sperm for artificial insemination and design diets and enclosures to promote sexual behaviour, especially in erratic males.
If this progress continues, giant pandas could go from disaster story to new symbol of conservation success. 鈥淚n 1996, only about four cubs were born in China,鈥� says Howard. 鈥淲e鈥檝e gone nothing but up.鈥�
