National Panda Day, 16 March 2025

This National Panda Day, learn more about this vulnerable species and what you can do to help them.

On this day we celebrate Pandas!

To coincide with National Panda Day, we’d like to invite you to get to know more about this amazing species. We've got some simple and fun ways to show your support; from learning more about pandas, to baking a panda cake!

WWF & The Birth Of Wild Giant Panda Research: A Lasting Legacy

An urgent call for action

The giant panda is perhaps one of the most recognisable symbols when it comes to conservation, with a rich history substantiating this fame.
Step back into the 1980s and wild giant panda populations are dwindling. We now know this was largely due to habitat loss and fragmentation, alongside other human-driven pressures. Conservationists didn’t fully understand the cause of this decline at the time, blaming bamboo flowering (natural die off) and questioning the giant panda’s ability to breed in the wild. An urgent question needed to be answered if we were to save the endangered giant panda. If the bears were left to their own devices, would they survive?
To answer this question, we needed to know more about wild giant pandas – at this point, our knowledge on these bears was largely based on captive research.
A home for wild panda research

As an answer to this call, Professor Hu Jinchu, a local to Sichuan Province with experience of working in the forest, was looking for a spot to set up the first panda field observation station in the world. The goal – from this station, study wild giant pandas and seek to understand the true cause of their decline. Professor Hu found his ideal spot for the Wuyipeng (small hut), high in the mountains of what it now Wolong National Nature Reserve, part of the Giant Panda National Park.
To be based at the Wuyipeng, Dr George Schaller was invited by the Chinese government and by WWF, as a world-renowned conservationist and one of WWF’s first Chairmen, and the Chinese government, to study the giant panda in 1980. This made him the first Western scientist to be entrusted with WWF work in China. With this, WWF became the first international conservation organisation to carry out fieldwork in China and research focused on wild pandas began.
A historic mission begins

Dr Hu Jinchu, Dr George Schaller, Kay Schaller (Dr Geroge Schaller’s wife), Sir Peter Scott (WWF’s Chairman and co-founder), Philippa Scott (Sir Peter Scott’s wife) and Mr Wang Menghu (a representative from the China National Forestry and Grassland Administration) made their way through the thick bamboo undergrowth of the forest. With their wider research team, they were heading to the Wuyipeng – for the conservationist from the West, this was their first visit. A fir tree transplanted into the camp by Dr George Schaller and Sir Peter Scott still stands today– a symbol of the lasting impact and real people behind this early mission – perhaps they were feeling a little homesick at Christmas time.
Taking the lead from local experts, they came to learn about the landscape and culture that was new to them. Even wild pandas were new to WWF’s founder, with the now-famous WWF logo based on Chi Chi, a captive panda. Sir Peter Scott had in fact never seen a wild panda, but it wasn’t long before this changed. During this first trek, the group were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of their elusive study subject, their attention peaked by the sound of bamboo cracking through the thick forest. The panda had even left behind a present, a fresh poo… The group agreed this was a gift from the panda to WWF – ‘welcome’! Not only was this a warm welcome, but it was also an important first step in this new mission. Such poos hold valuable data, which now allows us to identify individual wild pandas. Kay Schaller played an important role here, drying each poo on the Wuyipeng stove, ready to send to partner universities for study.
This marked the first cooperation of scientific research and ecological conservation between China and WWF.
Pioneering international collaboration

Prior to WWF’s arrival, Dr Hu Jinchu's team had prepared 7 monitoring routes from the research camp, through the steep and thickly forested terrain, totalling around 100km. These routes were based on the team’s local knowledge of the landscape and animal’s distribution here. WWF’s support built on this local expertise, enhancing the scientific research and conservation efforts. This included the radio tracking devices that Dr Schaller’s team brought to the Wuyipeng.
To collar this elusive hear, the pioneering international team collaborated with an experienced local hunter who was now turning his tracking skills to conservation. An artificial wooden cave was constructed as an enticing resting place for the bears, enhanced with the alluring smell of smoked meat. Through some unwanted disturbance in the camp and local farms, the team had learned that preserved smoked meat was a little too tempting for even the famous bamboo-lovers to resist!
Once enticed into the wooden cave, the pandas were sedated with a dart. As well as fitting the collar, the team gathered data on the sex, weight (it took at least 3 people to lift the pandas to weigh them!) and body length, before releasing the pandas on their way and monitoring the signals emitted by their new collars.
Since 1980, a total of six giant pandas - three initially and another three later - have been collared for tracking by researchers. This marked the first ever successful collaring of wild giant pandas.
Getting to know the pandas

Following the pings from the new collars through the thick forest, the rangers’ hopes were high. The beeping of the radio-locator was getting quicker and quicker – the panda must be close! But then, silence… where did the panda go?! They must be in a blind spot. Following some disconcerting cracking sounds from their camp, the rangers discovered the giant panda making herself and home in their tent, tucking into precious food reserves! This panda was aptly named ‘Naughty’, leaving the ranger with little more than biscuits for the rest of their trip.
To support this demanding ranger work, WWF provided technical outdoor clothing for the team who were amazed by how light, warm and waterproof this gear was. People in Pingwu had not seen such clothing before, with their own clothes made of heavy wool and cotton. Schaller and his colleague Scott also brought new scientific research methods with them, such as studying areas in a grid, building on local knowledge. This was an early bridge between Chinese and international research. A time for people to learn from each other, as well as the panda.
After the team witnessed giant panda mating behaviour for the first time, data from Zhenzhen's collar indicated that her active range was shrinking. The team learned she was prepared to give birth. All this data gathering providing new insight into the breeding behaviour of wild giant pandas. Vital information for informed conservation efforts.
A lasting legacy

From these early research efforts, we learned key information about the ecology of the giant panda, coming to understand more about their home range size, their solitary and territorial nature, how they communicate through tree marking, how they use dens to rest and birth, and how individuals are only likely to interact during mating season. And importantly, how to work with partners and communities to protect giant pandas and their habitat.
Based on the last national survey in 2014, there are now just over 1,864 giant pandas in the wild. In 2016, the giant panda’s conservation status was downgraded from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’. A big panda paw step in the right direction.
Today, WWF continues to support local partners, rangers and communities in panda and habitat monitoring and beyond. This work is now less intrusive, focussing on passive data collection methods such as camera trapping, and poo monitoring is still going strong! We are still learning about pandas, and there are many unknowns, such as how the bears will be impacted by climate change. The early work from the 1980s has a strong legacy as we continue to gain more insight into the bears’ biology and conservation status and collaborate with communities living alongside these iconic bears.

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National Panda Day, 16 March 2025

On this day we celebrate Pandas!

WWF & The Birth Of Wild Giant Panda Research: A Lasting Legacy

An urgent call for action

A home for wild panda research

A historic mission begins

Pioneering international collaboration

Getting to know the pandas

A lasting legacy

Learn about Pandas

Test your panda knowledge

Top 10 facts about pandas

National panda day activities

Make a panda mask

Bake a panda cake

Adopt a Panda

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National Panda Day, 16 March 2025

On this day we celebrate Pandas!

WWF & The Birth Of Wild Giant Panda Research: A Lasting Legacy

An urgent call for action

A home for wild panda research

A historic mission begins

Pioneering international collaboration

Getting to know the pandas

A lasting legacy

Learn about Pandas

Test your panda knowledge

Top 10 facts about pandas

National panda day activities

Make a panda mask

Bake a panda cake

Adopt a Panda

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