• Question: Do you think pandas are doomed to extinction?

    Asked by hahex12 to Ed, Katie, Sam, Steve, Vera on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Sam Tazzyman

      Sam Tazzyman answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I fear that they are. Their habitats are fast disappearing. Added to that, there are not many left in the wild, and those in zoos very rarely breed. This means that there aren’t many pandas left in the world. When there aren’t many of an organism and it breeds sexually, there is more chance individuals breed with their relatives, and this means that genetic diseases in the offspring are more common, making it even harder for the species to survive.

    • Photo: Katie Marriott

      Katie Marriott answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I agree with what Sam says! Although this is not my area of expertise, the fact that the panda’s habitats are disappearing and it seems they don’t like to breed in capivity looks to be a bad outlook for the poor pandas!

      Maybe the zookeepers just aren’t choosing the right partner for the pandas in capitivty. We should start a panda dating agency!

    • Photo: Steven Daly

      Steven Daly answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      It seems so, unfortunately. Large mammals are much more likely to go extinct for various reasons, including that there are less individual in a population, and they in general take longer to have babies, which means they can adapt to changes less quickly. The good thing about evolution is that some other animal will evolve over time to take up the place of the panda.

    • Photo: Vera Weisbecker

      Vera Weisbecker answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Yeah, Pandas definitely won’t be around for long. Aside from being super-rare, they also have a common problem of species going extinct – they are so specialized they can only do one thing ever, which is eating bamboo. So if things change and there is less bamboo, they just go extinct. Other animals (rats for example, or humans) are less fussy so they can survive in many different environments. Cheetahs are like that too – all they can eat is meat and if that becomes rare, they have no alternative and go extinct.

    • Photo: Ed Morrison

      Ed Morrison answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Yeah, like the others I don’t think the future’s bright for the panda. Their habitat is dimishing, they don’t breed in zoos. My grandchildren may never see a real one 🙁

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