What it is
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a black and white bear of the mountain forests of central China that lives on bamboo. It has strong jaws and broad flat teeth for chewing tough stems, and an enlarged wrist bone works like a thumb to hold them. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as Vulnerable.
Range
Bamboo forests in the Minshan, Qinling and Qionglai mountains and nearby ranges of central China.
What happened
China has surveyed its wild pandas about every ten years since the 1970s. The latest surveys found about 1,800 to 2,060 in the wild, and as the numbers grew the International Union for Conservation of Nature moved the giant panda from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016.
When / status
Vulnerable since 2016, with wild numbers slowly rising.
Human role
Loss and breakup of its forests by farms, roads, dams and towns leave many pandas in small groups cut off from each other.