In the past ten thousand years, the development of human civilization continuous threatened the panda's natual habitat in a degree that the giant panda had to withdraw into the high mountains and deep valleys on the east edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The miraculous survival of giant panda through the tremendous changes in the history of nature can be attributed to its withdraw from competition.

However, giant pandas are now in a very dangerous situation. From the 1950s utill now, four-fifths of their habitat has disappeared, and only a little more than 10,000 square kilometers in more than 30 counties have remained. The population of giant pandas has decreased to approximately 1500, which is then divided into about 20 isolated groups. Because of this, there may be inbreeding, and a loss of genetic diversity of the species, thereby extinct one group by another. In addition, giant panda only eats bamboos; when the cyclical blossoming of bamboos happens, bamboos wither and pandas may die of starvation or sickness. In the 1970s and 1980s, bamboos of the Mingshan Mountain and Qionglai Mountain once have a large-scale blossoming, which caused a sharp decrease of panda population.

Giant Panda- Stegodon Sinensis