Chinese officials have announced that giant pandas are no longer on the endangered list. They are now in the “vulnerable” category, which is a less serious level of risk for the species (find out more in the box).

In an interview with journalists on July 7th, the head of the department of nature and ecological conservation, Cui Shuhong, said that the pandas’ situation had improved due to China’s effort in recent years to replant bamboo forests, their natural habitat. This ecosystem was being destroyed over the last decades by growing cities, which harmed the survival of these animals because they depend on bamboo for food.

In addition, Shuhong said that in recent years there has been a “visible increase” in the number of animals from other species that are also at risk of disappearing, such as Siberian tigers, Asian elephants, and Amur leopards.

In 2016, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature removed the panda from its list of endangered animals and began to classify it as “vulnerable”. At that time, many Chinese experts claimed that this reclassification was not correct, and that the species’ situation was still extremely serious. This year, the Chinese have concluded that a change in category is possible.

Risk Categories

To determine the risk to species of not having living representation on Earth, specialists place them in nine categories with different degrees of severity. The criteria for different categories vary according to factors such as population size and distribution. 

Least Concern (LC)

Near threatened (NT)

Vulnerable (VU)

Endangered (EN)

Critically Endangered (EC)

Extinct in the wild (EW)

Extinct (EX)

Questions

1) According to the text, which factor was decisive in taking pandas off the list of endangered animals?

A) A decrease in air pollution

B) Replanting bamboo forests

C) Replanting forests with trees of different species

D) A decrease in river pollution

2) What do you think could be done to save Brazilian animals that are threatened with extinction like pandas?

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