https://youtu.be/QPvg_lx3usE

Species name: Panda

Problem: Habitat loss or Deforestation: Some people keeps destroying the panda’s habitat for more land

Solution: They should stop destroying or else the pandas would have no where to live and would die out. Pandas and their habitats should be protected and people should be fined if they destroy the habitats.

Implication: The implications are people might have not enough land for more housing

Further Solution: Pandas only have a little area in the mountain to live, so people should just rebuild apartments, or other houses and make it bigger for people to live in. Protect the pandas habitat by using less paper, or planting more bamboos for the pandas.

Problem: Food shortage. Destroying the panda’s habitats also leads to food shortage. Pandas can eat up to 14 hours a day and if there are not enough bamboo, the pandas might starve to death.

Solution: Don’t destroy the habitats.

Implication: The implications of food shortage is that it needs people to stop cutting down too many trees and bamboos, so people has to use less paper.

Further Solution: We can educate people by sharing about why we should not destroy the pandas habitats and food in the internet

Problem: Poaching

Solution: People hunt for pandas for their fur to sell and it is expensive. We should not buy anything made from pandas so people will stop hunting them.

Implication: The implications of poaching is that some people may be upset because that is how they earn money.

Further Solution: People that are caught selling things made from animals should be fined or arrested.

Basic Information

Pandas are also known as Ailuropoda melanoleuca. They can live up to 20 years. They are omnivores, but they mainly eat bamboo shoots, leaves and roots. Occasionally, they eat other plants, small animals, and carcasses. There were hidden cameras at the Baishuijiang National Reserve in Gansu province in China captured wild pandas eating meat and fighting. They can eat up to 14 hours a day.

Pandas are old enough to mate when they reach 5.5 to 6.5 years old. Their mating season is usually in Spring, which is between March and May. Pandas are solitary animals This usually means there are few males in the vicinity of a female panda in heat. As few as two and as many as five will typically compete for the right to breed. The female panda will attract her mate with scent-marking, which is rubbing against trees and urinating, and bleating calls. Their gestation period is 95-160 days and they usually give birth to only one cub. If the female gives birth to two cubs, she would abandon the weaker one and it would eventually die after birth. The reproductive rate is about 1 cub every 2 years. Most pandas leave their mother when she becomes pregnant again after 18 months, but if she doesn’t conceive,  the mother will live with their cubs for two years, then leave the cub to fend for itself.

Why are they endangered?

There are a lot of reasons why pandas are endangered. One of the main reasons why the population of pandas has declined is habitat destruction. As the human population in China continues to grow, pandas’ habitat gets taken over by development, pushing them to smaller and less livable areas. Habitat destruction also leads to food shortages. Pandas feed on several varieties of bamboo that bloom at different times of the year. If one type of bamboo is destroyed by development, it can leave the pandas with nothing to eat during the time it normally blooms, increasing the risk of starvation. Paper is also made out of bamboo and if we waste paper, a lot of the bamboo will be gone. The wild panda’s population had increased by 17% in a decade up to 2014.

Another reason why is because of poaching. People hunt for the panda’s fur to sell, it was sold for $65,000 once! In addition to this, it isn’t too hard to capture a panda from the wild. Groups of around 6 to 10 people go out into the wild and when they find a panda they have some heavy duty material in between two sticks of bamboo and put the panda onto the material and carry it to their car then drive off with it.

How to help the pandas?

We should educate some people, and tell them why we shouldn’t kill pandas and destroy their habitats. One of the reasons why people visit China is to visit the pandas. If they become extinct, the number of tourists might decrease.

We also shouldn’t buy things made from pandas, because it might encourage more people to hunt for pandas to make more money. We should protect the pandas and their habitats.

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