Where do giant pandas live in the wild?

Only in a few mountain ranges in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in China, in cool, wet forests with plenty of bamboo.

Why do pandas eat bamboo?

Pandas evolved to specialise on bamboo, which is abundant all year in their mountain forests. They digest it poorly, so they must eat large amounts every day.

No. Bamboo is a giant grass. Its woody stems, called culms, grow to full height in a single season and do not grow wider over time like tree trunks.

Are giant pandas still endangered?

Since 2016 the IUCN has listed the giant panda as Vulnerable rather than Endangered, after its wild population grew to about 1,860. It still depends on protected habitat.

Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected mountain area in Sichuan, famous for its giant panda research and breeding centre and part of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries World Heritage Site.

Misty mountain forests of bamboo, home of the giant panda in Sichuan

Bamboo forest

3D landscape · Wolong, Sichuan, China

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Bamboos are giant grasses, and some of them are the fastest-growing plants on Earth. In the mountains of western China they form dense thickets beneath forests of conifers and broadleaved trees, on steep slopes cloaked in cloud for much of the year. In this app you can land in a bamboo forest in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan and explore it in interactive 3D: tall green bamboo culms in clumps, ferns and moss, a mountain stream and forested ridges disappearing into the mist.

A giant panda sits munching bamboo, and golden pheasants, among the most colourful birds in the world, pick their way through the undergrowth. Wolong is part of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that protects a large share of the world's wild pandas.

Key facts

Model setting: Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan, ChinaSteep, misty mountain forest with dense bamboo understorey
Bamboo: A giant grassSome species can grow tens of centimetres or more in a day while shooting up
Wild giant pandas: About 1,860From China's fourth national survey (2015); IUCN changed their status from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016
Panda diet: About 99% bambooAn adult may eat roughly 12–38 kg of bamboo a day
World Heritage: Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, 2006Seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks in the Qionglai and Jiajin mountains
Mass flowering: Every few decadesMany bamboos flower all at once and then die, which once caused panda food shortages
Golden pheasant: Native to China's mountain forestsMales have a golden crest and a scarlet body; females are mottled brown
Altitude: About 1,200–4,000 m for pandasMostly in mixed and conifer forest with bamboo understorey

The mountains of western China

Wild giant pandas live only in a handful of mountain ranges on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Here the land rises steeply from the Sichuan Basin to snowy peaks over 6,000 m high. Moist air from the basin rises up the slopes, bringing heavy rain, frequent mist and cool temperatures, ideal for bamboo and dense mountain forest.

Wolong, about 130 km from Chengdu, lies in the Qionglai Mountains. Its slopes climb through broadleaved forest, mixed forest, conifer forest of fir and spruce, rhododendron thickets and alpine meadows to bare peaks, with bamboo forming the understorey across much of the middle zone.

How bamboo grows

Bamboos belong to the grass family. Most spread by underground stems called rhizomes, sending up new shoots each spring. A shoot already has its full diameter when it emerges and simply stretches upward, growing very fast for a few weeks; some species can grow tens of centimetres or more in a single day at their peak. After that the culm, the woody stem, hardens and grows no taller, but it keeps putting out leafy branches for years.

Many bamboo species flower only once every few decades, and all the plants of a species in a region often flower at the same time, then die. In the 1970s and 1980s mass flowering of bamboo in panda areas led to food shortages and some panda deaths, which is one reason why connected habitat with several bamboo species matters.

Giant pandas

Giant pandas are bears, but they eat almost nothing except bamboo. Their digestive system is still that of a meat-eater, so they digest bamboo poorly and must eat a lot of it, feeding for up to around 14 hours a day and resting in between. An enlarged wrist bone works like a sixth finger, a 'pseudo-thumb', that helps them grip bamboo stems.

Pandas are mostly solitary, with each one keeping to its own area of forest. Cubs are tiny at birth, only about 1/900th of the mother's weight, among the smallest newborns relative to their mother of any mammal.

Back from the brink

Habitat protection, a logging ban in natural forests, reserves and replanting helped the wild population grow by about 17 percent between national surveys in the early 2000s and 2015. In 2016 the IUCN moved the giant panda from Endangered to Vulnerable. China has since combined many reserves into the Giant Panda National Park.

Other animals of the bamboo forest

The same forests are home to red pandas, takins (large goat-antelopes), golden snub-nosed monkeys, tufted deer, Asiatic black bears, clouded leopards in some areas, and many rare pheasants. Golden pheasants live in dense undergrowth and are shy, despite the males' brilliant gold, red and blue plumage.

The region is also a hotspot for plants. Many familiar garden plants, including species of rhododendron, magnolia and primula, were first collected by Western botanists in these mountains.

Threats and conservation

The biggest threats to pandas have been loss and fragmentation of forest through logging, farming, roads and dams. Small, isolated populations are vulnerable to inbreeding and bamboo die-offs. Climate change could shift the areas where bamboo grows best, possibly pushing suitable habitat to higher altitudes.

Conservation now focuses on joining up fragments with forest corridors, managing tourism and development, and reintroducing captive-bred pandas into the wild. Wolong was badly damaged by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, and its breeding centre was rebuilt afterwards.

Surprising facts about Bamboo forest

Bamboo is a grass, and some species can grow tens of centimetres or more in a single day while shooting up.
A giant panda has the digestive system of a carnivore but eats almost only bamboo.
Pandas have a 'pseudo-thumb', an enlarged wrist bone that helps them hold bamboo.
Newborn pandas weigh only about 100 grams, roughly 1/900th of their mother's weight.
Many bamboo species flower all together just once every few decades and then die.
Golden pheasants, with their dazzling colours, are surprisingly hard to spot in the dense undergrowth.

Frequently asked questions

Where do giant pandas live in the wild?: Only in a few mountain ranges in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in China, in cool, wet forests with plenty of bamboo.
Why do pandas eat bamboo?: Pandas evolved to specialise on bamboo, which is abundant all year in their mountain forests. They digest it poorly, so they must eat large amounts every day.
Is bamboo a tree?: No. Bamboo is a giant grass. Its woody stems, called culms, grow to full height in a single season and do not grow wider over time like tree trunks.
Are giant pandas still endangered?: Since 2016 the IUCN has listed the giant panda as Vulnerable rather than Endangered, after its wild population grew to about 1,860. It still depends on protected habitat.
What is Wolong?: Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected mountain area in Sichuan, famous for its giant panda research and breeding centre and part of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries World Heritage Site.

Keep exploring

The landscapes in Ember’s Universe are procedural 3D scenes modelled on real places. The landforms, plants and light follow the real thing, but the details are generated, not mapped.

Sources