Pandas aren't as targeted by poachers as other iconic species, like tigers and elephants, and their natural range is limited to the bamboo forests of China. In some ways, this has kept them out of the limelight. But it hasn't kept them out of danger.

It's estimated that there are about 1,600 pandas left in the wild. Although their population has been increasing in recent years, so has development in China. There are about 50 nature reserves across the 20 remaining habitats that can sustain the bamboo diet of pandas. 

The Chinese government has worked with conservationists to provide some protected areas for pandas, but there's a need for more reserves, as well as the development of corridors to link these isolated areas.

Thank the Chinese government for the work they've already done to help pandas, and ask them to protect critical habitat before development pushes panda bears into extinction.

Photo credit: No Dust