China's giant pandas are so well-known and well-recognized that they can serve as China’s national emblem. Their distinct black and white coats are unique amongst other bears and their cute faces are adored by people all over the world. As an endangered species, only an estimated 2,000 pandas currently live in the wild, mostly in the Sichuan Province of China. The rest of the pandas in the world reside in zoos and conservation bases.
Along with their unique fur coats, pandas also have a unique diet that consists mainly of bambo. This specialized diet limits the habitat where pandas are able to live. Farming and deforestation, amongst other things, put these adored animals on the endangered species list, so conservation efforts are essential to the survival of the entire species.
Chengdu is home to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, a short 30-minute taxi ride away from my apartment. My friend recently visited me on China’s Labor Day weekend, so I took him to see pandas, or da xiong mao in Chinese, which literally translates to big bear cat.
Our trip did not only teach us about pandas, but also about conservation efforts for other wildlife. As the face of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), pandas help remind humans that we share this world with countless other creatures and that their lives and habitats are as important as ours.
