(Hope all you illustrators will post portraits of pandas.)
from AP, 4:28 pm T. 5/13/08 China's panda preserves report populations safe, after China's worst earthquake in 3 decades, closed off remote mountain areas, more than a day after the quake hit. The Wolong National Preserve where the highlands are almost 1000 meters high, is a panda breeding center, the only place in the world where the rare animals can be seen in such large numbers. The sanctuary also focuses on bamboo ecology, being a major part of the pandas' diet. Although Chinese and overseas zoo officials had worried about the 86 pandas, since Monday's quake rattled areas in the south central Sechuan province, all is well. All panda bear cubs had been taken to safety. 31 British panda watching tourists used a sattelite phone to contact the State Forestry Administation, to report status, as the remote area's communications had been ravaged by the earthquake.
Pandas are a national symbol for China. They are so rare and slow to breed that any large scale loss would have been critical to the population. More than 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu, reopened to tourists Tues. morning. Also reported safe were another 8 pandas, in another preserve in Ya'an, about 1 hr west of Chengdu. Pandas are among the world's rarest animals, and both locations are part of efforts to breed giant pandas. (More photos, caricatures, please.
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About 1600 pandas live in the wild, in China's mountainous west, and another 180 live in captivity.
from AP, 4:28 pm T. 5/13/08 China's panda preserves report populations safe, after China's worst earthquake in 3 decades, closed off remote mountain areas, more than a day after the quake hit. The Wolong National Preserve where the highlands are almost 1000 meters high, is a panda breeding center, the only place in the world where the rare animals can be seen in such large numbers. The sanctuary also focuses on bamboo ecology, being a major part of the pandas' diet. Although Chinese and overseas zoo officials had worried about the 86 pandas, since Monday's quake rattled areas in the south central Sechuan province, all is well. All panda bear cubs had been taken to safety. 31 British panda watching tourists used a sattelite phone to contact the State Forestry Administation, to report status, as the remote area's communications had been ravaged by the earthquake.
Pandas are a national symbol for China. They are so rare and slow to breed that any large scale loss would have been critical to the population. More than 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu, reopened to tourists Tues. morning. Also reported safe were another 8 pandas, in another preserve in Ya'an, about 1 hr west of Chengdu. Pandas are among the world's rarest animals, and both locations are part of efforts to breed giant pandas. (More photos, caricatures, please.
)
About 1600 pandas live in the wild, in China's mountainous west, and another 180 live in captivity.
