Giant pandas’ genetic diversity helps them adapt to environmental change

livescience panda
Image via LiveScience. Credit: Ying Zhu, Qiu-Hong Wan, Bin Yu, Yun-Fa Ge, Sheng-Guo Fang

The giant panda’s immune system is fairly diverse, genetically speaking, suggesting the endangered species may be more resilient to environmental change than previously thought, scientists say.

Biologists estimate that only about 1,500ย giant pandasย live in the wild today, confined to six isolated mountain ranges in south-central China.Panda fossil remainsย suggest the charismatic bears once roamed through parts of Burma and northern Vietnam as well, but have since suffered from environmental change and habitat fragmentation, and have been listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature since 1990.

Read the full, original story here:ย Giant Pandas More Resilient to Change than Other Endangered Animals

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