Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
The Giant Panda is likely the most commonly used example of an endangered species. Pandas live primarily in bamboo forests in the mountains of western China. In order to survive, the Panda must eat from 26 to 84 pounds of bamboo daily, which they do so by using their bulky wrists like opposable thumbs. Although threat to them has decline slightly, they are still considered endangered by the IUNC. The estimated population is about 1,600 living in the wild. In China's Yangtze Basin Region, an increasing amount of highways and railroads is fragmenting the bamboo forest, causing in an overall habitat loss for the Pandas. The minimal amount of bamboo did not add up with the population of the pandas, and thus many starved to death. They had also been driven out and hunted, similarly to the Javan Rhino. Pandas have not shown any direct evolution due to deforestation, however it is evident that they have adapted to the lack of forest areas and have learned to lived with slight human infliction.