LONDON - Conservationists should "pull the plug" on giant pandas and let them die out, according to BBC presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.
"Here's a species that, of its own accord, has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac," Packham told Radio Times magazine.
Packham believes that money spent on conserving the panda would be better invested in other animals as the species is not strong enough to survive alone.
"It's not a strong species. Unfortunately it's big and cute and it's a symbol of the WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) — and we pour millions of pounds into panda conservation," he added.
"I reckon we should pull the plug. Let them go, with a degree of dignity ..."
Giant pandas are confined to forest areas high in the mountains of southwestern China and have to consume large quantities of bamboo to survive.
They number around 1,600 and are threatened by agriculture, logging and China's increasing human population.
But Packham's views are not widely shared.
"It is a daft thing for Chris to say, and an irresponsible one," Mark Wright, a WWF conservation science advisor, told British media.
"Pandas have adapted to where they live. They live in the mountains where there is plenty of the bamboo they want to eat.
"It's like saying the blue whale is in an evolutional cul-de-sac because it lives in the ocean," Wright added.
Packham, who is president of Britain's Bat Conservation Trust and vice-president of the Wildlife Trusts, also saw a grim outlook for endangered tigers.
"I don't think tigers are going to last another 15 years," he said. "How can you conserve an animal that is worth more dead than alive? You can't."
Source: MSNBC
Fiorelli
"Here's a species that, of its own accord, has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac," Packham told Radio Times magazine.
1Are we allowed to say that about some people we know?
Packham is an idiot and should hush up. But on the bright side since he is in Britain and on socialized medicine one day someone will say let's pull the plug on him.
2ouch. harsh. poor pandas!
though i do think there are some animals that if they were cute we would have let die out. we seem to only want to save the cute ones.
3um. the reason they're dying is because of people. if we would stop tearing everything down, maybe this wouldn't even be an issue.
4True snarky. Haus, why do you think people hve babies - they are cute and when clean smell nice. otherwise we would have died out a long time ago.
Pandas, Polar Bears - all bears are so cute and you just want to cuddle them and they just want to make you a snack.
5"um. the reason they're dying is because of people. if we would stop tearing everything down, maybe this wouldn't even be an issue."
Exactly.
6What a moron!
"um. the reason they're dying is because of people. if we would stop tearing everything down, maybe this wouldn't even be an issue."
yep, I am joining that line!
7Humans tear down everything that gets in their way of shopping malls, highways, and etc...they could care less about the animals.
Sometimes the rich doesn't care about the poor and will bulldozer over their old neighborhoods if they lawfully can.
8Very sad. Sad for the pandas, sad for this guy's stupidity.
9"They number around 1,600 and are threatened by agriculture, logging and China's increasing human population."
I admit I'm not up on my Chinese happenings but here's my opinion. If China has what is the equivalent to U.S. National Parks which are protected by order of the government as long as they leave that habitat alone and free from agriculture and deforestation I don't see why future conservation efforts have to be so expensive. Just leave them alone to do what mother nature does and they'll either make it or they won't but the key is to stop interferring with their habitat.
Now on the other hand if China has no intension of drawing the line in the sand so to speak and continues to allow the intrusion I can see why some would say well what's the point.
Panda's are a huge tourist attraction for the Chinese especially Pandas in the wild so I don't see why they wouldn't see this as an economic investment.
Huminity's compasion will never ever just allow a species to die out with out a fighting chance. We'll always have our Dian Fossey's, Jane Goodall's and Paul Watson's.
10There is only one species of bamboo that the pandas eat. Should those bamboo go dormant for any length of time they will starve to death.
11If they ever stop making coca~cola I know a few friends who will die of thirst, lol.
12they do have panda parks and have an active breeding program but they are encroaching on their territory. But then again the Chinese are encroaching on a lot of territories.
Hypno - the american or mexican version of coke?
13But Pandas are the cuteness!
14I just cried, kas. That made me verrrry sad!
15Oh sorry Amy!
How about cute looking into the lense panda?
16Or productive pandas trying to take this whole endangerment issue into their own hands?
17Panda in camera lens, cute. Pandas doing the horizontal mambo? Not so much.
18Much better! I'm feeling the love now!
19
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21You'd think they'd at least be smiling a little...
22Actually, pandas can eat many species of bamboo, since they need to accommodate for different seasonal growths. Some interesting info from Wikipedia:
Despite its taxonomic classification as a carnivore, the Giant Panda has a diet that is primarily herbivorous, which consists almost exclusively of bamboo. However, the Giant Panda still has the digestive system of a carnivore and does not have the ability to digest cellulose efficiently, and thus derives little energy and little protein from consumption of bamboo. The average Giant Panda eats as much as 9 to 14 kg (20 to 30 pounds) of bamboo shoots a day. Because the Giant Panda consumes a diet low in nutrition, it is important for it to keep its digestive tract full. The limited energy input imposed on it by its diet has affected the panda's behavior. The Giant Panda tends to limit its social interactions and avoids steeply sloping terrain in order to limit its energy expenditures.
Two of the panda's most distinctive features, its large size and its round face, are adaptations to its bamboo diet. Panda researcher Russell Ciochon observed that: “[much] like the vegetarian gorilla, the low body surface area to body volume [of the giant panda] is indicative of a lower metabolic rate. This lower metabolic rate and a more sedentary lifestyle allow the giant panda to subsist on nutrient poor resources such as bamboo.†Similarly, the Giant Panda's round face is the result of powerful jaw muscles, which attach from the top of the head to the jaw. Large molars crush and grind fibrous plant material.
Twenty-five species of bamboo are eaten by pandas in the wild, such as Fargesia dracocephala and Fargesia rufa. Only a few bamboo species are widespread at the high altitudes pandas now inhabit. Bamboo leaves contain the highest protein levels; stems have less.
Because of the synchronous flowering, death, and regeneration of all bamboo within a species, the Giant Panda must have at least two different species available in its range to avoid starvation. While primarily herbivorous, the Giant Panda still retains decidedly ursine teeth, and will eat meat, fish, and eggs when available. In captivity, zoos typically maintain the Giant Panda's bamboo diet, though some will provide specially formulated biscuits or other dietary supplements.
23There at some point be a synchronicity of events where all the bamboo flower and die at the same point. I am pretty sure scientists could figure out that date. It is no more difficult then determining the alignment of the planets. It might be that the article i was think of dealt with that issue, and my memory is faulty.
24Yeah I was reading something similar. The problem arises when all of the bamboo in their area is the same species, so they have to migrate to another area to find another type.
25Actually UnDave I don't think very many people smile while they're doing it either, lol.
26"Humans tear down everything that gets in their way of shopping malls, highways, and etc...they could care less about the animals."
So true PinkNC. Often I have trouble wrapping my mind around the thought of just how uncaring people can be. How they can just rip the land apart and cause harm to these (and any other animal) is disgusting and heartbreaking. Then, for Packham to say we should just let the pandas "die out"... such a reckless statement to make.
27The worlds population is continuing to explode. People have to live somewhere, work somewhere and shop somewhere.
In 1959 the worlds population was 2.997 Billion and the U.S. population 177,829620
2009 numbers are now 6.786 billion for the world, and the U.S. population 305,529,257. Here in the U.S. we added 2,743429 to our population just in 2008. Wrap your mind around those numbers, before you talk about "uncaring" people
28We also have wrap our minds around the reality that we don't and can't live on the planet ourselves.
29maybe some people should think more about population control.
30"maybe some people should think more about population control."
"We also have wrap our minds around the reality that we don't and can't live on the planet ourselves."
31"maybe some people should think more about population control. "
Abso-freaken-lutely!
32OK Ladies how do we go about doing that here, let alone around the world?
33Europe and Japan, i believe are not replacing their population, hence the need for Muslims in their country to work, and pay taxes. Forced abortions, and you would have a revolution in this country, literal, not figurative. Sterilization, what criteria would be set?
34We could start by not dictating or restricting the availability of birth control.
35Where is birth control restricted in the U.S.? Any debate around the medical necessity of seeing a doctor, and getting a prescription I will leave to you ladies.
36I intentionally didn't limit my comment to any one country.
37I couldn't agree more Steph.
38IMO our problem has more to do with or 50/50 with the fact that we do not live by the law of natural selection. There are a whole lot of people that would simply die off if it were not for man made intervention, including my self. I wouldn't be here right now if it were not for medication. I contracted a virus and by natures law I should be dead. It would be interesting to see a population map of the world with out man made intervention in protecting humans from natural pit falls.
39hypno why would medical advancement be considered a bad thing? If you want natural selection then anywhere there are people starving - let them starve and thus natural selection. Stop helping poor crappy countries feed their numerous broods- again natural selection.
40Look at my comment 33 Steph, I specifically limited my questions to the U.S. Here we can push for change, we have no say around the rest of the world.
41Well, it would have to be a global effort in order to make a dent.
42kastarte, so there is no viable solution
43We have a great deal of influence around the world, and in the past, we have tied family planning issues to aid. We can't force change, but to pretend we can't influence countries is silly.
44To think you are going to get enough of the worlds population to take population control seriously, I am not the one being silly. U.S. has to lead the way, and they wont/cant
45And that pronouncement is based on?
46"hypno why would medical advancement be considered a bad thing?"
LOL, I don't want to live by natural selection silly. I was just pointing out that (human) over population is not necessarily an issue of too many babies. I think our ability to dodge natural selection has a lot more to do with over population than making babies that all.
What are you crazy? I'm not giving up my spa days, lol.
47spa day??? when and where???
48"And that pronouncement is based on? " based on the fact that no one here has a viable solution to the U.S.reducing or reversing the population explosion that is politically feasible. If we can't do it here, forget trying to get the rest of the world on board..
49So if we can't think of something that means it can't be done?
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