March 16
National Panda Day
Although the origin of this holiday is unknown, we can assume that this day was created to bring awareness to the beauty of pandas to prevent their extinction. In 1961, the World Wide Fund for Nature was created and created its logo around the Panda, because it is an animal that is beautiful, endangered and loved by many people in the world.
Every year on March 16th, we celebrate the most iconic pandas, who are a source of national pride for China. There are two subspecies of pandas: the giant black and white panda and the Qinling brown panda, a smaller subspecies discovered in 1985 in the southern province of Shaanxi in China. Giant pandas only live in remote mountainous areas of China. Since 2019, the status of pandas has been upgraded from endangered to vulnerable due to rapidly growing populations. However, there are still less than 2,000 pandas in the wild due to loss of natural habitat, farming, fur hunting, and other factors. Pandas play an important role in the ecosystem of Chinese bamboo forests by spreading seeds and cultivating new vegetation that serves humans and animals. One of the factors contributing to their endangerment is the low birth rate of pandas. With females being fertile for only two or three days a year, reproduction in the wild is more challenging for this species. There are about 27 zoos worldwide that protect and care for giant pandas and provide an environment to support their reproduction. The most important factor in preserving wild pandas is the protection of their habitat, especially bamboo forests, their main source of nutrition.
