Should We Let Pandas Go Extinct?

When it comes to saving species, how should we decide who to save first?

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Keystone species: a species that plays a crucial role in the functioning of an ecosystem
- Flagship species: species used as an icon for an environmental cause
- Threatened species: species assessed by the IUCN as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable
- Triage: assigning degrees of urgency to a large number of patients to determine the order of treatment

CREDITS
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Script Writer: Kate Yoshida
Script Editor: Emily Elert
Narrator: Henry Reich
Illustrator and Animator: Ever Salazar
Music: Nathaniel Schroeder

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

IMAGE CREDITS
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REFERENCES
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[billyfox]

I think that we should focus on the endangered species who're most vital to their ecosystems because their dying out would do the most damage.

[TamTroll]

Pandas have adapted to a unique survival tactic: Be cute enough to a completely separate species that it goes out of it's way to keep you alive.

[averageboi]

I can imagine a wild life officer saying to a 2 panda “screw each other already”

[CSGhostAnimation]

before video: Of course not! Nothing should go extinct
after video: THANOS BE HITTIN'

[Suedocode]

Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, and save those snails!

[accursedcursive]

Ignoring pandas for a while may ironically help them, a genetic bottleneck is exactly what pandas need.
Their picky eating and breeding is why they're nearly extinct, and trying to save them liberates them from suffering from their own flaws which means that less picky individuals who could make the species viable again don't enjoy the benefits of natural selection.

[AndrewDerpfaceC]

Otters are cute and they are vital to ecosystems. Win-Win.

[Darksagan]

Saving a species based on cuteness is so damn human.

[Verlarn]

I've anyways thought this, but felt like I was in the minority because everyone gushes over pandas. _Yeah, _ they're cute. But in the game scheme of things, there's more important species to focus on.

[mrburgermaster]

There's a plethora of organisms I'd work towards saving before pandas.

[RocketHarry]

If we want to save giant pandas we have to do it smarter. Rather than wasting billions of dollars down the drain just to preserve the bears themselves we should instead shift towards the ecosystem of Bamboo forests. Bamboo has a phenom called Bamboo blossom where nearly entire bamboo forest flowers at the same time then they all die off at once because most bamboo grows from a single specimen meaning most bamboo in a forest is a clone of the original bamboo which can be bad for genetic diversity. When the Bamboo flower they produce tons of seeds which most will be eaten by rats, the problem occurs is that rat population often swell to overwhelming numbers that very few seeds survive to grow. When the bamboo seeds run out then the rats either die out or move on to nearby farms to feed on the agriculture.This cause a very small number of genetic variety in the surviving bamboo. Coupled with humans enproaching on the bamboo forstes and chopping them down to make room for more farms.
We should start on preserving and introducing native rodent eating carnivores that help keep rat numbers down during these Bamboo bloom events, this means more cultivars of bamboo will survive. Then we introduce Bamboo species that don't go through these mass blooming so that herbivorous species including Giant Pandas have something to eat during the Bamboo Blooming.

[hlalakar]

When a species loses interest in sex, it's time to let it go. That's the species level equivalent of being in a persistent vegetative state.

[-comment]

Damn pandas. Falling off mountains after trying to get really high up growing bamboo plants.

[nu]

Let`s just save the bees. Without bees everybody dies.

[Mbrace]

I think we should focus on saving the organisms most vital to the ecosystem.

Pandas seem like a lost cause. They mostly put themselves at risk of extinction without the help of us; they often abandon their young, and for some stupid reason, they decide to have a very limited diet of bamboo despite being bears with adaptations for eating meat. Bamboo is utterly an inappropriate diet for their digestive system. I dunno why some panda long ago had the brilliant idea to eat almost nothing but bamboo.

This is one of the few animals where their imminent extinction is, for the most part, not human's fault. So why not let natural selection take it's course?

[kirby]

If pandas went extinct, I dont think I could watch Kung Fu Panda the same anymore...

[RainAngel]

I think animals that are very near extinction should be conserved in captivity only, with no efforts to reintroduce them to the wild unless there is a good chance they can successfully repopulate. As well, animals with a low chance of success should be saved in a gene bank instead of as physical animals. If we preserve good quality gene samples, and lots of them, we can very likely clone a new generation of the species later.

I think animals important to the ecosystem should be top priority with animals with a good chance of recovery given second priority.

The "cute" or exotic faces of wildlife conservation should still be used as the face of wildlife conservation. They can act as funds for the other animals, so yes we should still try to save them, but distribute the money a little better.

[timothymclean]

...
Did you write this entire episode just for that pun at the end?

[LpsAreEpic]

I like pandas and all but we also need to support other animals...

[FOLIPE]

Yes, I can, I've never seen a panda and my great-grandparents didn't know bears existed, much less pandas, and they did just fine.