China’s efforts to conserve and grow its populations of endangered giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are at odds with its own changing forestry policies, which could damage or destroy up to 15 percent of the pandas’ habitat, according to conservationists writing in the February 1 issue of Science. At the heart of the matter is a [...]

Cats can get the H1N1 virus. So can dogs, ferrets and (obviously) pigs. But what about endangered species like giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)? China isn’t waiting around for an answer. Last week, the panda section of the Shaanxi Wild Animal Rescue and Research Center was closed to visitors and to most volunteers after a surge [...]

As if pandas didn’t have it bad enough already, now comes a new report that predicts China’s blossoming economy poses such a great threat to giant pandas that the species could be extinct in two to three generations. The report comes from animal conservationist Fan Zhiyong, species program director at the Beijing office of the [...]

What genetic machinations are behind the much adored, bamboo-chomping giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)? An international team of more than 120 researchers has now sequenced this rare bear’s genome. It is the first genome project to rely solely on short-read next-generation sequencing technology, and the panda’s sequence is the first in the bear family and only [...]

“The males often prefer eating to mating.” Apparently, giant panda dudes (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in captivity would rather sit around and munch on bamboo than get it on with the females. And this is a problem at the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Centre, where scientists are urging the pandas to breed, for conservation purposes. What’s [...]