Study Puts Panda Life Span at 13 Years
HONG KONG — A giant panda in the wild lives an average of 13 years, which is not as long as some scholars have estimated, a report said Friday.
Scholars have debated the life expectancy of the giant pandas, native only to central and southwestern China, with estimates ranging from 20 to 30 years.
The Hong Kong China News Service said Chinese researcher Wei Fuwen and his colleagues studied the teeth of 69 pandas in their research. The report did not provide the researchers’ exact affiliation.
Though the researchers estimated the average life span as 13 years, they said some animals could live twice that long.
China’s panda population, just under 1,000, has been declining in the last five years. A rare flowering cycle of the arrow bamboo, their dietary staple, which has caused many plants to whither and die, has been blamed for the drop.
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