At least 80 percent of the habitat for giant pandas in China's earthquake-hit province was destroyed or damaged, a forestry official said Tuesday.China's May 12 temblor centered in Sichuan devastated a vast area of wild habitat for endangered species, including the giant panda, Cao Qingyao, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration, told reporters.
"We still cannot reach some of the local habitats, so it's impossible to assess the exact losses," Cao said.
The endangered panda is revered as a national symbol in China, where about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan and the neighboring province of Shaanxi. Another 180 have been bred in captivity.
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