Panda park provides 'umbrella protection'

The facility, which straddles three provinces, will also help efforts to safeguard other rare species. Li Hongyang reports.

Editor's note: In the coming weeks, China Daily will be publishing special reports focusing on the ongoing development of the country's national parks system, looking at areas coming under stronger protection and the species benefiting from the new facilities.

The giant panda is undoubtedly one of the world's best-loved animals.

The cute, rotund mammal has lived in the area that is now known as China for about 8 million years, according to fossil evidence from the late Miocene period discovered in Lufeng and Yuanmou, Yunnan province.

Last year, the country announced the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park, which straddles the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. So far, the park authorities have spent more than a year exploring better ways of protecting the animal and highlighting conservation efforts.

The park, along with a related protection system, was built to counter the challenges faced by pandas, including the shrinkage and separation of natural habitats, and low rates of mating, pregnancy and cub survival. Experts have said that when the panda, one of China's flagship species, is well-protected, other species that live in the same habitat will enjoy similar benefits.

The China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda said that many pandas have been loaned to 15 countries as "friendship ambassadors", and one pair made a recent trip to Qatar for the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup.

With its distinctive appearance — dark circles around the eyes and a plump body — the iconic black-and-white animal, often dubbed a "national treasure", fascinates people around the world.

As such, it has a high profile: it is the hero of the blockbuster movie, Kung Fu Panda, and a panda was the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The animal's image is also used as the logo of the World Wildlife Fund, a leading conservation organization.