Giant pandas: an endangered species Currently, giant pandas are highly at risk of extinction: only 1,600 live freely in the wild and around 300 live in zoos or breeding centers. This low number of pandas in existence means that the species is at relatively high risk of extinction. Pandas mainly reside in China around the Yangtze Basin area, which is a big problem, because this area is currently one of the most thriving regions in China with constant destruction and new development. Therefore, bears are pushed into small areas without the living conditions they are accustomed to. Pandas are continually fighting for their lives due to habitat loss, low reproduction rates, food shortages and poaching. Over the past forty years, pandas' natural habitats have declined by more than fifty percent. Their habitats are being destroyed so quickly that they have little time to adapt and find the things they need to survive. Logging, infrastructure and fuel development are just some of the many excuses used in an attempt to validate this desolation. Panda habitats are fragmented as w...