Due to an increasingly small genetic pool, fragmented panda populations also risk interbreeding, which could lead to reduced resistance to disease, less adaptability to environmental change and a decrease in reproductive rates. For those reasons, conservation groups say it is necessary to strengthen current panda reserves and establish viable corridors between them. The message echos one that is associated with the American grizzly bear. Isolated to five remaining patches in the lower 48 states, grizzlies also require vast undeveloped terrain in order to survive. The solution to habitat loss is far more challenging in China, where a population of more than 1 billion is pushing hungry people farther and farther into remote areas.
Giant pandas are by far the rarest members of the bear family.
While their ancestors once covered parts of Burma and northern Vietnam, there may be as few as 1,000 giant pandas left in the wild today, scattered across six isolated mountain ranges in south central China.