Viewing / tourism (2010s band)
TicketedSafari, hide, cage-dive or parade tickets in the 2010s often sat in the tens to hundreds of USD per person -- a dated band, not a live quote.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Speed15
Intelligence51
Range16
Resilience43
Cultural impact88
Ecological role31
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Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Why is ecological role scored low?
Pandas are bamboo specialists in a small mountain belt. They do not engineer continents like elephants or move ocean nutrients like whales. The score is relative, not an insult.
Did the 2016 downlist mean the crisis ended?
VU is better than EN. Fragmented habitat, bamboo die-off cycles and a still-small wild number keep the species in a watch band, not a recovered one like koi or many owls.
Why does WWF use a panda?
The 1961 logo drew on Chi-Chi at London Zoo -- a high-contrast animal that printed well. The brand and the wild census later had to share one face.
What did Nixon 1972 change?
Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing at the National Zoo made panda diplomacy a Cold War soft-power tool that China still uses as loans, not gifts.
What happened at Wolong in 2008?
The Sichuan earthquake killed staff and animals and wrecked the breeding centre. Rebuilding became a national reconstruction exhibit.
Who was Ruth Harkness?
An American who took Su Lin out of China in 1936 -- a living-export story that predates modern loan contracts.
IUCN: VU (2016 downlist)
Money around the giant panda is regional even when the brand is global.
Figures are dated educational bands -- not live quotes and not a buying guide.
Encounter bands
Conflict / livestock loss
Local & episodicPredation and crop-raid compensation schemes (US, Kenya, India) published per-head bands that changed with election cycles.
Fishery / take value
CommodityWhere the type is a catch (tuna, salmon, fugu), 2000s-2020s ex-vessel or auction bands were the political number -- not a supermarket tag.
Captive / zoo husbandry
InstitutionalAnnual keep for a large mammal or a specialist bird in AZA/EAZA reports ran to five or six figures USD in the 2010s.
Enforcement / reserve ops
PublicRanger, observer and census costs are socialised; they do not appear on a viewing ticket.
Regions
North America
ESA listings, Parks Canada, Alaska runs and Churchill buggies are the English-language field the localLens keeps returning to.
United Kingdom and Ireland
RSPB, NatureScot, reintroductions and a dense NGO press shape how this atlas type is taught in British English.
European Union / wider Europe
Habitats Directive, IWC delegations and returning wolves sit beside UK practice without being identical.
Range-state core
The biological centre of the giant panda -- often not English-speaking -- still writes the Red List.
Australia and New Zealand
DOC, Phillip Island, Taiaroa Head and kakapo-style ICU projects are the southern English conservation dialect.
Global trade desks
CITES, ICCAT, IWC and auction houses price the animal whether or not a local language has a word for it.
Key range numbers
15Atlas speed
43Atlas resilience
88Atlas cultural impact
31Atlas ecological role
Field programmes
NFGA / China panda offices
Reserves and the national park.
WWF
Logo and Wolong-era partnerships.
Chengdu Research Base
Captive breeding and tourism.
Smithsonian NZP
Loan science and diplomacy.
Wolong reserve
Field and quake reconstruction.
IUCN Bear SG
2016 downlist card.
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