This Day, That Year

Item from Sept 3, 1983, in China Daily: Under the watchful eye of a scientist, a giant panda in Foping Nature Reserve in Qinling Mountain of Shaanxi province enjoys a meal - not the usual diet of bamboo, but fruit drops and canned food. The State Council has approved emergency measures to save pandas threatened by famine in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces.

Thanks to nationwide efforts to protect giant pandas and their environment, there were an impressive 1,864 of the bears living in the wild by the end of 2013, with the area of their habitat at about 2.6 million hectares, according to latest figures from the State Forestry Administration.

Animal activists laud China's efforts to protect its giant pandas, considered a flagship species of biodiversity conservation. Other measures to protect endangered animals such as the takin and golden monkey in similar habitats can learn from the panda program, they say.