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The main threat to pandas is loss and fragmentation of their habitat. Roads and railways are increasingly cutting through the forest, which isolates panda populations and prevents them from breeding.

Their habitat is also degraded by people collecting medicinal herbs and harvesting bamboo – the pandas’ main source of food. These activities have cut through habitats, reducing the panda’s ability to move between areas to look for food – and ultimately isolating populations.

Bamboo naturally dies off every 40-120 years, depending on the type. Before people dominated their landscape, pandas could move from areas where die-offs had occurred to areas with healthy bamboo. But as the human population has expanded and fragmented habitat, pandas are no longer able to ‘follow’ the bamboo, so may get stuck in areas without enough food

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Giant pandas help to keep their habitats healthy by spreading seeds in their droppings all around the forest – which helps vegetation to spread and grow and so helps the forest thrive.

The panda’s forest habitat is also important for the livelihoods of local people – who use it for food, income, fuel for cooking and heating, and medicine. Giant pandas live in the same mountains that form the watersheds for the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. These river basins are the economic heart of China – home to over 500 million people!

So by protecting pandas, we’re helping protect the wider environment where they live, for both the people and other wildlife that depend on it. Pandas themselves are also economically and culturally valuable. They are the national symbol of China and generate income to the country through tourism, which in turn can benefit local communities.

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The number of giant pandas has increased thanks to conservation efforts over decades in China to save the species.

With population counts at approximately 2,000 adults and cubs it is no longer considered an "endangered" species, but is still thought to be vulnerable from future deforestation and concerns surrounding climate change.

The increase in numbers is being put down to special breeding programmes and protection for bamboo forests.

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The giant panda also known as panda bear or simply panda, is a bear native to south central China. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the unrelated Red Panda. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda's diet is over 99% bamboo. Giant pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.

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The giant panda is off the endangered species list and reclassified as vulnerable, CNN's Natalie Allen speaks with WWF's Director General Marco Lambertini on their comeback.