While U.S. and Chinese government officials square off over an incident involving a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter, a joint U.S.-Chinese research team is faulting China's efforts to save the giant panda from possible extinction. The study, funded by the U.S. government, will be released Friday in the journal Science.
Pandas are mammals and are part of the bear family.
They're most genetically similar to bears, although they branched off of the bear line about 3 million years ago. They have concluded that the preserve, created in 1975 to help increase the panda population, has instead seen a startling increase in human population and deforestation and an decrease in panda population. From 1975 to 1995, the human population in the preserve has increased 70 percent, a rise that bests population increases in some areas lying outside the preserve in China's Sichuan province. The population rise has led to more trees being cut down for fuel, farming and road work. The panda population in the preserve has plummeted from 145 in 1974 to 72 in 1986.