Bl2—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, September 24,1983 Threatens Pandas (Corrtmu«l from Page 810) launching the panda research death in the mid-1970s when project, which began in 1980. As another species of bamboo China becomes more and more blossomed in another region of developed, pandas may have an China’s panda range. That even harder time finding food, calamity was a major impetus in “The pandas in Wolong spend Tiny Farmer months, she loves to go to the barn, armed with a milk pail that is just her size. FABRAL CORPORATION ROOFING SIDING & ACCES. Cannon Bail will make your door roll with ease & last longer. TRUSSES FOR SMALL AND LARGE BLDG. 36 xloo’ DOUBLE ARCH CORN CRIB * »<K* f ” -VA* " ♦ <► • ** * v N*‘ j. s 0 0 s MINI BARNS most of their time high up in the mountains where the arrow bamboo grows,” says Dr. Julian J.N. Campbell, who was plant ecologist for the World Wildlife project. “Now they will be forced down to try to eat other kinds of growing in the lower regions, but there are people down there too, living right in the reserve. The pandas could be squeezed out.” And pandas need a lot of bam boo. Each panda consumes from 22 to 33 pounds of bamboo a day. Their digestive tracts are able to extract little nutritive value from each plant, which has only about as much nutrition as an onion. Unexpected Flowering The emergence of the tassle-like brownish blossoms in Wolong was not predicted. “A patch here, a patch there had blossomed in the last few years,” says Schaller. “At the end of 1982, only about five percent was in the process of blooming. Now over 90 percent of it is in blossom. We knew it was building up to it, but we didn’t know it would happen this year.” Why bamboo flowers is still a mystery to scientists. “There’s some internal mechanism, with a predetermined cycle. Regardless of the environment, when it’s time to flower, it flowers, and we have absolutely no idea what triggers this,” says Dr. Thomas R. Soderstrom, curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s department of botany. Despite the long intervals bet ween flowering, bamboo’s preset calendar remarkably causes all plants of the same species wherever they are in the world to burst into flower at roughly the same time. In China, government officials are now surveying the bamboo outside Wolong to determine the extent of flowering elsewhere and the availability of alternative food sources. Once this survey is complete. Don’t Blow Your Money on Heat Save Your Hot Air - Invest in a Type Bldg. You can use year-a-round CUSTOM BUILT—WILL MATCH CRANE SERVICE CALL US FOR INFORMATION 717-866-6581 Amy til, New Jersey, has her own “Miss Piggy." who she wraps in a blanket and bottle feeds. Amy is three years old, and is waiting to join the “Up N* Comin” 4-H Club in her area. says Schaller, “we will know ™ exactly how seriously the pandas . , 0 , .JJ® .. . . will be affected in the next few bambo ° notlced b y ™» S mav have to P andas at the national 200 in areas, or the pandas Ihemselvre se^a | va rtefes o?tenSio tha may have to be trapped and moved to places where bamboo is plen- home-grown in gardens in the Washington area. EFFICIENT CLEAR SPAN STRUCTURE No Posts To Split & Rot Off. Cares For 'Miss P‘ qigidplu Harters PRODUCTS WE MANUFACTURE AND STOCK * Laminated Archs & Beams * Lumber * Treated Timbers * Flooring & Decking 4 Corn Crib Siding * Fabral Roofing, Siding & Acces. * Cannon Ball Door Track * Agri Type Doors, Windows & Vents
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