Pandas are well-adapted to their habitat. For example, their coloring provides camouflage from predators. They can climb trees that are in their habitat. However, their habitat is being destroyed.
Pandas live in mountains, in relatively high levels (7,500 to 10,830 feet above sea level). However, this fluctuates depending on the season. Pandas will migrate farther up the mountain in the summer, to reach cooler temperatures, and down in the winter, to reach warmer temperatures that are more comfortable.
In the 19th century, pandas lived in forests and on slopes by the Pitiao river, by the south-west Sichuan's Quionglai Mountains. However, between 1966 and 1973, loggers destroyed the trees. With the canopy gone, underbrush overgrew, making it difficult for bamboo to grow. The pandas were driven farther up into the mountains, shrinking the size of their habitat. However, in 1975, logging was stopped.
Today, pandas live in mountains in the Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi regions, and the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau. Also, they live in Wolong, an area that was made a wildlife reserve in 1980, because it contained the highest density of pandas. There is also another reserve in the Min Mountains called Jiuzhaigon. It has a beautiful setting with rivers, streams, and lakes. There are rhododendrons all around. However, the downside of this is that tourists flock to this area, trampling grasses and killing plants, destroying the habitat. If this is continued, the habitat may be destroyed, shrinking the panda population farther.
The panda's habitat is very wet and rainy, and has snow in the winter, so they have developed a waterproof coat of fur that is very oily to the touch. The oil stops water from soaking into the fur, keeping the panda very dry. There habitat has lots of bamboo, and deciduous and evergreen trees.
Pandas are well-adapted to their wet forest habitat. However, their habitat is being destroyed. If this continues, the panda territory could shrink further.