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Blight Poses No Threat to Pandas
Cyclical bamboo blights in 1974 and 1983 killed 250 giant pandas, threatening their survival. However, the cyclical food crises for giant pandas will not cause their extinction, says Zhang Hemin, head of the Conservation Center of Giant Pandas in Wolong, Sichuan, China, according to latest issue of Beijing Today.
Giant pandas have existed for almost 3 million years. Reckoned in terms of bamboo cyclical blooming, there have been more 50 thousand blights, but giant pandas still exist. They moved to find new food bases and habitats.
In cooperation with the World Wide Fund For Nature, the former Forestry Ministry issued and executed a plan for protection of panda habitats in 1992. Thanks to the plan, giant pandas can move to other areas when the bamboo blights afflict their original habitats.
Bamboo periodic blooming and withering is a regular law of nature, says Zhang.
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