Endangered Species - The Giant Panda
Read the Essay and Take the Short Answer Test
The giant panda is a well known (and well loved)
species that is being driven to extinction by habitat loss.
It has become one of the most endangered mammals
in the world, with only 1,600 of them left. Although
they have been protected from hunting and on the
Endangered Species list since 1984, pandas are still
disappearing.
Their problem is complex. The giant panda eats bamboo
and only bamboo. There is so little nutrition in bamboo
that they have to eat for more than 14 hours a day to
get the calories they need. They eat 30 to 80 pounds of
bamboo parts a day. They don’t even have time to stop and hibernate. Without a bamboo forest on which to
feed, all the pandas will die.
Giant pandas are found only in southwestern China, along the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau in the
mountains between 4,000 and 12,000 feet near dense stands of bamboo. Although they were once more
widespread, today they are limited to six small areas. China has one of the most populated countries in the
world. There are more people here every year. To house and feed themselves, they cut down forests for farms
and communities, including the shrinking bamboo forests. Sometimes, pandas are left in small islands of
bamboo surrounded by houses and highways. Worse yet, sometimes bamboo will die off and the pandas will
have to go in search of a new bamboo forest -- if there is one. Unless all development of the bamboo forests
stop soon, there will be no more panda habitat and then no more pandas.
www.exploringnature.org
©Sheri Amsel
Endangered Species - The Giant Panda
Short Answer – Reading Comprehension Assessment
Name _______________________________________________________ Date _______________________
1. What was done to protect giant pandas in 1984?
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2. What is the giant panda’s only food and why do they need to eat so much of it?
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3. Why don’t pandas hibernate?
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4. Why is protecting the giant panda’s food so hard to do?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
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5. What will happen if we cannot protect the giant panda’s habitat?
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www.exploringnature.org
©Sheri Amsel
Endangered Species - The Giant Panda - KEY
Short Answer – Reading Comprehension Assessment
Name _______________________________________________________ Date _______________________
1. What was done to protect giant pandas in 1984?
They have been on the Endangered Species list since 1984 and protected from hunting.
2. What is the giant panda’s only food and why do they need to eat so much of it?
The giant panda eats bamboo and only bamboo. There is so little nutrition in bamboo that they have to eat for
more than 14 hours a day to get the calories they need.
3. Why don’t pandas hibernate?
There is so little nutrition in bamboo that they have to eat for more than 14 hours a day to get the calories they
need. They don’t even have time to stop and hibernate.
4. Why is protecting the giant panda’s food so hard to do?
China has one of the most populated countries in the world. There are more people here every year. To house
and feed themselves, they cut down forests for farms and communities, including the shrinking bamboo
forests. Sometimes, pandas are left in small islands of bamboo surrounded by houses and highways. Worse yet,
sometimes bamboo will die off and the pandas will have to go in search of a new bamboo forest -- if there is
one.
5. What will happen if we cannot protect the giant panda’s habitat?
Unless all development of the bamboo forests stop soon, there will be no more panda habitat and then no more
pandas.
www.exploringnature.org
©Sheri Amsel