Pandas live in three small mountain forest areas in western China and there may be less than 500 left. The bamboo plant which they eat flowers only once every 30 years. There is now so little bamboo that if it fails to flower at the right time, the pandas will be left without a source of food. The koala bears of Australia, too, were once threatened with extinction - not only because of disease and because they were hunted for their fur but because many of the eucalyptus trees they eat have been cut down. Both the trees and koalas are now strictly protected and numbers are picking up again.
Koalas look like bears but they are marsupials, carrying their young in a pouch.
Big cats Lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards and pumas are all kinds of cat, known as big cats. They are found all over the world, except in Australasia. All are deadly hunters, slinking quietly up on their prey, then pouncing or pursuing it. Most big cats hunt on their own, except for lions, which live in groups called prides. Male lions are easily recognizable by their huge manes.