There may be many more pandas living in the wild than previously believed, say scientists involved in a novel study of the animals鈥� DNA.
The work was carried out by a team led by Michael Bruford of the Cardiff School of Biosciences, UK, and Fuwen Wei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
They examined DNA from panda faeces and say this 鈥渘on-invasive鈥� method of analysis should have provided a more accurate population profile than previous techniques.
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The giant panda is one of the world鈥檚 most elusive and endangered species. The animals鈥� native home ground is the mountains of central and southern China, northern Burma and Vietnam.
According to official Chinese estimates, their numbers have fallen to only around 1590, largely as a result of the destruction of their natural habitats by humans.
Panda combing
The conventional way to estimate panda populations is to examine faeces and estimate how many different pandas may have left them by analysing distinctive bite marks on half-digested bamboo. 鈥淲ithout DNA profiling you are bound to underestimate,鈥� Bruford says.
His team surveyed 26 square kilometres of Wanglang National Nature Reserve in central China. 鈥淲e really combed the reserve. There were teams of people in a field walking in a line,鈥� Bruford adds.
It had previously been thought that 27 giant pandas lived in the area. But Buford鈥檚 team found DNA from 66 different animals.
He predicts the results will be replicated in other panda reserves. 鈥淥ur results found that previous surveys had underestimated the population by more than 50%,鈥� said Bruford.
Perilously low
鈥淭hese findings indicate that the species has a much better chance of long-term viability,鈥� Bruford adds. 鈥淎lthough we must not become complacent, since the population size is still perilously low.鈥�
鈥淲e still may be only talking about a few thousand individuals. These guys are not common,鈥� he warned.
China founded its first nature reserve for giant pandas in the 1950s and now has 56 reserves for them, according to the Xinhua news agency.
It also has 183 giant pandas in captivity, while others have been sent to zoos around the world.
Journal reference: Current Biology (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.05.042)
