2-3 Generations Left For Giant Pandas Unless Development Fragmenting Habitat Can Be Stopped - AFP

[hatrack]

China's giant panda could be extinct in just two to three generations as rapid economic development is infringing on its way of life, state media said Monday, citing an expert at conservation group WWF.

The problem is that the pandas' habitat is being split up into ever smaller patches, preventing the animals from roaming freely for mating partners and in turn endangering their gene pool, the Global Times reported. "If the panda cannot mate with those from other habitats, it may face extinction within two to three generations," said Fan Zhiyong, Beijing-based species programme director for WWF. "We have to act now."

The risk of inbreeding is increasing, threatening to reduce the panda's resistance to diseases and lowering its ability to reproduce, the paper said.

Fan said that highways pose major restrictions on the panda's free movement. "We may have to give up building some infrastructure," Fan said. "I don't know the solution to this problem."

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Chinas_panda_could_be_extinct_in_2-3_generations_report_999.html

[The2ndWheel]

1. Really?

"and putting males through "sexercises" aimed at training up their pelvic and leg muscles for the rigours of copulation."

We're going to force pandas to fuck so that we can feel better about ourselves? Either build the roads, or, don't. Why make things even more complicated by forcing other species, seemingly against their will, to fuck for us?

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Did you post just so you could use the word 'fuck'?

What are you, 15?

[The2ndWheel]

3. I wish

When I was 15, I wasn't reading about how we're training pandas for the rigors of copulation to offset our rapacious economic expansion.