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What Is the Importance of Giant Pandas?

By Alex Bramwell, eHow Contributor

The giant panda, or Ailuropoda melanoleuca, is one of the most easily recognized animals on Earth and also one of the most endangered. Native to China, the giant panda is now found only in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in central China. Because they eat only bamboo in the wild, pandas are very vulnerable to habitat disturbance and climate change. There are believed to be fewer than 2,000 pandas surviving in the wild, with another 250 in captivity, most of these in China.

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What Is the Ecosystem of the Giant Panda?

Habitat

The giant panda is an important species in its native forest habitat. By eating large amounts of bamboo, it prevents this vigorous species from dominating the understory and forcing out other species. Giant pandas also encourage bamboo thickets to regenerate and prevent them from dying of old age.

Culture

Chinese culture and mythology has featured the giant pandas for thousands of years, either as Pixiu, a fierce and invincible creature as strong as a tiger, or as a more benign animal called Zouya. In battle during the Xizhou Dynasty, a flag featuring Zouya was used by armies to request a temporary truce. The panda was also regarded as a living manifestation of the opposing yin and yang forces which govern the universe thanks to its black and white coloration. Currently many Chinese people regard the giant panda as a symbol of national pride and a potent talisman.

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Education

As a flagship species for conservation efforts in China, the giant panda is very important to overall efforts to protect diversity. In 1985 there were already 2.5 million acres of panda reserves, which protect not only the bears but all the other plants and animals in the area. The popularity of...