The giant panda is no longer an endangered species, following decades of work by conservationists to save it.

The official status of the much-loved animal has been changed from “endangered” to “vulnerable” because of a population rebound in China.

The change was announced as part of an update to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

But the update also brought bad news. The eastern gorilla, the world’s largest primate, is now endangered.

Efforts by China, which claims the giant panda as its national animal, have brought its numbers back from the brink. The latest estimates show a population of 1,864 adults.

There are no exact figures for the numbers of cubs, but estimates bring the total number of giant pandas to 2,060.

“Evidence from a series of range-wide national surveys indicate that the previous population decline has been arrested, and the population has started to increase,” said the IUCN’s updated report.

“The improved status confirms that the Chinese Government’s efforts to conserve this species are effective,” it added.

But the rebound could be short-lived, the IUCN warned. Climate change is predicted to wipe out more than one-third of the panda’s bamboo habitat in the next 80 years.

“And thus panda population is projected to decline, reversing the gains made during the last two decades,” the report said.

It added: “To protect this iconic species, it is critical that the effective forest protection measures are continued and that emerging threats are addressed.”

A surge of illegal hunting has taken the eastern gorilla in the other direction, reducing its numbers to just 5,000 across the globe.

Four out of six of the earth’s great apes are now critically endangered — the eastern gorilla, western gorilla, Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan.

The IUCN Red List includes 82,954 species, both plants and animals. Almost one-third, 23,928, are listed as being threatened with extinction.

经过动物保护工作者几十年的努力，大熊猫不再是濒危物种了。备受喜爱的大熊猫已正式从“濒危物种”变为“易危物种”，因为在中国大熊猫的数量有所回升。

国际自然保护联盟更新的红名单宣布了此项变化。

但是此次更新也带来了坏消息。世界上最大的灵长类动物，东部低地大猩猩现在濒临灭绝。

大熊猫在中国享有“国宝”之称，而中国做出的努力成功使大熊猫的数量从濒危边缘回升了。最新的数据显示现在成年大熊猫数量已经达到1864只。关于大熊猫幼崽数量并没有明确的数字，但是据估计大熊猫总数达到了2060只。国际自然保护联盟更新后的报告称：“一系列全国范围内的广泛调查显示，之前数量减少的现象已经被遏制住，现在数量正在上升。”

报告另外补充道：“更新后的状态肯定了中国政府为保护大熊猫而做出的努力是有效的。”

但是国际自然保护联盟提醒：数量的回升可能是短期的。在接下来的80年中，气候的变化预计会摧毁超过三分之一的竹林。

报告称：“因此，大熊猫的数量预计会回落，过去二十年取得的进展又将被逆转。”

“要保护这种标志性的物种，重要的是要继续采取有效的森林保护措施并且处理好不断出现的威胁。”

对东部低地大猩猩的大量非法捕猎使这个物种的数量往另一个方向发展了，现在全球仅存5000只东部低地大猩猩。现在地球上仅存的六种类人猿中有四种处于高度濒危状态，分别是东部低地大猩猩、西部大猩猩、婆罗洲猩猩和苏门答腊猩猩。

国际自然保护联盟红名单中包括了82954种不同物种的动植物。其中将近三分之一，也就是23928个物种濒于灭绝。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

    【回升】huíshēng rebound recover

    【边缘】biānyuán brink any extreme edge, verge