Giant pandas (大熊猫) are no longer endangered, Chinese officials have said, decades of work to save the creatures helped drive their population in the wild up to 1, 800. The species will be listed as vulnerable (易危物种),Cui Shuhong, director of the Department of Natural Ecological Protection of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
China has spent half a century attempting to boost the population of its famous animals, creating panda reserves across several mountain ranges in an effort to save them from extinction. They were taken off the endangered list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2016.
Since the 1970s, Chinese officials have worked on a campaign to drive up their numbers. To prevent habitat loss, officials created specially designed nature reserves in areas where their main food source, bamboo, is plentiful. In 2017, China announced plans for a 10，476-square-mile reserve, which is three times the size of Yellowstone National Park.
"China has established a relatively complete nature reserves system," Cui said on Wednesday as he announced the move. "Large areas of natural ecosystems have been systematically and completely protected, and wildlife habitats have been effectively improved."
Pandas are known in China as an umbrella species, which means experts believe measures to protect them would help protect other species, as well as the larger ecosystem. Cui added that the populations of some other rare and endangered species are gradually recovering as well. "The number of species such as Siberian tigers, Amur leopards, and Asian elephants has increased significantly." he said.
