INTRODUCTION

Giant pandas are robust members of the bear family with a distinctive black and white coat. Their head and body length is 120 to 190 cm, and adults weigh 85 to 125 kg. Specialized features include broad, flat molars modified for crushing, and an enlarged wristbone functioning as an opposable thumb �X both adaptations for eating bamboo. The giant panda's diet consists almost entirely of the leaves, stems and shoots of various bamboo species; although they occasionally eat meat. A giant panda may consume 12 to 18 kg of bamboo a day to meet its energy requirements.

Giant pandas inhabit the bamboo forest zone between 1,200 m and 3,400 m. Formerly they were found in riverine valleys at lower elevations, but these areas are now settled by humans. Giant pandas are generally solitary, each adult having a well-defined home range. A male's home range overlaps with those of several females. Although encounters are rare outside the brief mating season, pandas communicate fairly often mostly through vocalization and scent marking.

Little was known about the habits of giant pandas until the 1940s when Chinese scientists began to make observations in the wild. Efforts by Chinese authorities to protect the giant panda's habitat began in 1957, and the first four panda reserves were established in 1963. In 1981, supported by WWF, American scientist Dr George Schaller initiated further field studies together with his Chinese colleagues in Wolong Reserve in the Qionglai Mountains of Sichuan. The team's findings still form the basis of much of our knowledge of giant
panda ecology and behaviour. Further research on wild pandas has been undertaken in Tangjiahe Reserve in the Minshan Mountains, and in the Foping and Changqing Reserves of the Qinling Mountains.