Bamboo Die-Off Threatens Wild Pandas
Giant pandas in northwestern China could be at risk of starvation because the bamboo plants they eat are beginning to die off in a cycle that happens every 60 years, the official New China News Agency reported.
Workers at Baishuijiang State Nature Preserve in Gansu province plan to monitor the 102 pandas there for signs of hunger and move threatened animals to areas that still have bamboo.
Pandas derive most of their nutrition from bamboo. Every 60 years or so, the plants flower and enter a dying-off stage. Pandas refuse to eat the flowering plant, which produces seeds and then dies. A new crop takes 10 years to mature.
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