Giant panda makes a stunning comeback as China marks 40% rise in numbers

[CShine]

The giant panda is in better shape than anyone realised, the most thorough census yet of the species has indicated. In the bamboo forests of southern China there are nearly 1,600 individuals, an increase of more than 40 per cent on estimates from the past 30 years.

The previous panda survey, in the 1980s, estimated about 1,100 animals in the wild, about the same population that was estimated in the first survey of the giant panda in the 1970s. The latest census was more extensive and thorough, said the global environment network WWF, formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Stuart Chapman, head of species for WWF-UK, said the apparent increase in panda numbers is probably due to a combination of better counting methods and a genuine increase in the wild population.

"We have been further, higher and deeper into panda habitat than ever before, finding panda populations that were not known to science," Mr Chapman said. "Hearing about the findings was like all my Christmases rolled into one. We've got a second chance and you don't often get a second chance in conservation."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=530304