Let pandas go extinct!
There are only about 1 500 pandas left in the wild.
Around 150 live in zoos and breeding centres, mostly in China.
It costs £1.5 million
each year to keep a
panda in a captivity.
We could protect
lots more species
with that money.
We raise lots of
money from people
who want to protect
them. We must
save these rarest of
bears.
What do you think?
Save them or let them die?
Why?
Prunella, anti-panda campaigner
Brian, head of SOP (Save our Pandas)
Panda Facts…
Lifespan: up to 35 years.
Weight: males, up to 250 pounds.
Females, up to 220 pounds.
Drink: lots of water.
Food: 20 to 40 pounds of bamboo per day
99% of their diet is bamboo.
Birth weight: three to five ounces –
1/900th the size of its mother.
Height: two to three feet tall.
Length: four to six feet.
Reproduction: one cub every two years.
Five to eight cubs in a lifetime.
Lifestyle: 10 to 16 hours a day foraging and eating,
the rest of the time sleeping and resting.
The arguments for pandas
Pandas can
adapt to
where they
are set free.
We should be
buying land for
them to live in, not
spending all that
money rearing
them in captivity.
They are
the rarest
breed of
bear and
we should
save them.
They face
extinction
because of
poachers and
humans moving
into their
habitats. It’s that
we should stop.
The arguments against pandas
They can live in
the mountains
of China where
there is plenty
of bamboo.
They might look
cute and cuddly
but they’re not
very bright and
don’t reproduce
very often.
What
do
You
think?
Giant pandas
have been
dying out
because of the
destruction of
their natural
habitat.
You
shouldn’t
breed
animals
just to keep
them in
captivity.
Millions of
pounds are
spent each year
preserving
them. That
money could be
better used
elsewhere.
Breeding
pandas in
captivity for
release later is
pointless.
There is
nowhere for
them to go.
Up2d8 maths
Teacher’s guide
Towards the end of September 2009, two wildlife specialists
spoke about pandas. One felt it was time to let that species of
bear die out, and the other felt they needed continued
protection. This Up2d8 explores both arguments and
encourages the children to discuss their opinions. The ideas on
the spreads focus on number and calculation skills that can be
adapted for all ages.
You might find it helpful to explore the following websites:
Wild Life Extra
Cool Tribe
Family Homes Network
Wikipedia
1st spread: Pandas should be left to face extinction!
● Together read the numbers of pandas in the wild and in captivity. What is the difference
between the two? Can they imagine how many 1 500 and 150 are? Explore the place
value of both numbers, including the importance of zero as the place holder – without
them the numbers would be the same: 15.
● Discuss what is meant by ‘in the wild’ and ‘breeding centres’. Which do they think is the
best place for pandas and why? Encourage the children to give positive and negative
views, eg. in the wild they might be hunted and in breeding centres they are protected, in
the wild they are free to roam anywhere, and in breeding centres they are held in
captivity and their movement is restricted.
● Lead a discussion on the views of the two people. How much is £1.5 million, is it a lot of
money? Is it right to spend that much keeping an endangered species alive? What other
ways could the money be spent that might be more useful?
● Do they think it matters that a lot of people donate money specifically for pandas?
● After some discussion, take a vote of their opinions: save the panda or let it die and
display the results in a Carroll diagram or table.
● If someone earns £30 000 a year, how long would it take them to earn £1.5 million?
Where do the children hear of that amount of money being won – in the lottery, ‘Who
wants to be a millionaire?’
● You could set a task for the children to try to spend that amount of money.
1st spread: Pandas should be left to face extinction! continued…
● Discuss what is meant by ‘the rarest bear’ and endangered species. Ask them to think of
other animals that are endangered and whether anything is being done to save them.
You might find the WWF website useful.
● Also consider those animals that are now extinct, eg. the dodo. Is the world a
worse/better place without it? Will people forget about the panda in time if it is left to
become extinct?
● You could look at the third spread for further discussion points: arguments for and
against the panda. Discuss each point, which do the children agree with?
2nd spread: Panda Facts…
● You could ask them to work with a partner and a large piece of paper and draw the
outline of a panda within these dimensions.
● Look at the weight of the male panda: up to 250lbs. Discuss the units of measure and
their equivalences including imperial to metric if appropriate and measuring equipment.
Give them a calculator and ask them to convert 250lb into kilograms: 0.45 x 250 =
112.5kg. Can they imagine how heavy that is? You could compare this to 112 kilogram
bags of sugar or similar. Encourage them to work in small groups to weigh out fractions
of this amount in books or something similar. How many will they need to weigh
112.5kg? Gather these together.
● Repeat this for the weight of a female panda. Compare the weights of both.
● You could ask word problems, eg. if I had 20 books each weighing 5kg, would that be
equivalent to the weight of a male panda? How do you know?
● Discuss the number of cubs a panda will have. For younger children put the numbers on
a table and ask them to match these with the correct number of bears, from a collection
of toy bears or similar.
● What if the female panda could reproduce for 20 years, how many cubs could she
potentially give birth to?
● Base the weight of a cub on 3 ounces and convert to grams using this conversion:1oz =
28g. Repeat for other amounts. This could be a good opportunity to work on the grid
method for multiplication or partitioning.
● Share this information about the cubs: they do not open their eyes until they are six to
eight weeks of age and are not mobile until three months. The cub is pink, hairless, and
blind. You could give the children pages of a calendar and ask them to work out when
the cub will open its eyes and also start to move from dates you give them.
2nd spread: Panda Facts, continued…
● If the cub is1/900th the size of the mother you could ask them how they could show this
visually, eg. colour one square of a 30 by 30 grid on squared paper.
● Discuss the food a panda eats. How much is 99%? Work through percentages of
different numbers, basing calculations on 10% and doubling / halving / x10 / ÷10 /
addition / subtraction. Ask them to use what they find to make 99% of the different
numbers, eg. 10% and 1%, then multiply each by 9 for 90% and 9% and finally add
them.
● Convert 20 to 40 pounds into kg (0.45 x 20lb/40lb). Ask them to estimate and weigh
different amounts within these parameters. Inform the children that the rest of the
panda’s diet is made up of such things as small rodents and fish.
● Tell the children that much of the water the panda eats comes from bamboo. New
bamboo shoots are about 90% water. They also get water from rivers and streams. The
forests of central China where giant pandas live receive about 30 to 40 inches of rain
and snow a year. Discuss capacity – vocabulary, units, measuring equipment. Ask them
to estimate and measure the equivalent to 30, 32, 35 inches etc.
● Use the information that the panda spends 10 to 16 hours a day foraging and eating.
Give starting times and ask them when they might stop eating.
● Repeat this for the sleeping time, firstly asking questions such as if they spend 14 hours
a day foraging and eating, for how long do they sleep?
● Make up birth dates for pandas and ask the children to work out when they will die
naturally (after 35 years).
● Use the sand area to create a panda reserve.