BEIJING - A shortage of the staple food of China's giant panda will leave 19 of the rare animals scrounging to keep hunger at bay for as long as a decade in a reserve in the mountains southwest, Xinhua news agency said. Pandas are unable to eat arrow bamboo when the plant flowers, meaning the animals will have little to eat in the area for the next 10 years, the minimum period for the plant to become edible again. "The blossoming area now accounts for 20 percent to 25 percent of the habitat of giant pandas in the reserve," Xinhua said, quoting a report on the Piankou Nature Reserve, which includes a panda habitat of 3,750 sq km (1,450 square miles).
China estimates 1,750 giant pandas, naturally fussy eaters, live in the foggy mountains of the southwestern Sichuan basin, while about 140 live in captivity around the world. Logging has been the biggest threat to the endangered panda, destroying its habitat of forests with undergrowth of bamboo.
Li Zuobin, a wildlife specialist in the region, said the forestry bureau of Mianyang, the city that runs the Piankou reserve, had been preparing for the worst for the 19 pandas. "Giant pandas in serious condition will be rushed to two neighbouring giant panda research and breeding areas," Li was quoted as saying.
"But luckily, we haven't received reports of starving giant pandas and hunger-induced ill giant pandas yet."
Professor Zhang Heping, director of the Wolong Nature Reserve, said the bamboo blossoming would not lead to the extinction of giant pandas, the symbol of conservation worldwide.
"Arrow bamboo has blossomed myriad times in history, but giant pandas are still around today," he said.
China last year built a biscuit factory to cater exclusively to its captive giant pandas, giving them a more healthy choice than their usual diet of steamed bread.
Reuters
