The conservation measures China has put in place to protect the giant panda have also been beneficial to other endangered species in the country, according to a new study.
Researchers Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke, and lead author Binbin Li, a Ph.D. student who works with park authorities in the Min Shan Mountains of Sichaun, conducted the study. The two scientists created a comprehensive database of species, according to Duke Environment.
The distributions of the species were based on maps compiled by naturalists indicating where species of mammals, birds, and amphibians occur in China.
China’s iconic giant panda is protected in many areas of the country. “We wanted to know whether it serves as a protective umbrella for other species,” said Pimm.
China has spectacular protected areas with exceptional numbers of species found nowhere else on Earth. The giant panda is the most famous of these — a global conservation icon. We wanted to know whether it serves as a protective umbrella for other species.
The giant panda’s geographical range was found to coincide with 70 percent of forest mammals and birds, as well as 31 percent of forest amphibians indigenous to mainland China.
The maps indicated that many of China’s unique species of animals tend to live in the areas where the giant pandas now survive, areas where nature preserves have been established to protect the pandas.
Li says that there are concerns that in “protecting the giant panda, we might be neglecting other species, but this isn’t the case.”
Many people have worried that in protecting the giant panda, we might be neglecting other species, but this isn’t the case.
Li and Pimm created a new map using statistical modeling and geospatial analysis to predict the locations where endemic species could best thrive.
The final result predicted locations offering protection for the greatest number of species. The map also identified “gap species” – species that live in areas not currently set aside for the protection of the pandas. In some of these areas they were not protected at all, while in other cases they were protected, but not given the highest level of protection in China.
The study, published in the journal Conservation Biology, gives specific recommendations on how to improve protection for the gap species and their habitats.
These species include the golden snub-nosed monkey and takins – animals only found in China, according to Live Science.
With the focus on pandas, protecting new areas in the region is made easier. “It gives us the chance to protect the most important areas for other native species while protecting more panda habitats,” Li said.
There is great hope in the future. While the government and the public keep focusing on pandas, it is easier to establish new protected areas and corridors in this region. It gives us the chance to protect the most important areas for other native species while protecting more panda habitats.
In an unrelated study, scientists suggest that pandas are lazy because they survive on a vegetarian diet while their bodies actually crave meat for energy.
