Giant Pandas Are Extremely Sensitive To Noise: Study [VIDEO]

The giant panda is one lovably big animal that gets heavily disturbed by human noise. Conservation scientists and animal care specialists looked at giant pandas in the San Diego Zoo. They found that the animals could locate sound in the ultrasonic range, which is usually above the frequencies of audible sound of 20,000 Hz.

"An understanding of a species' hearing provides a foundation for developing estimates of noise disturbance," explained Megan Owen, associate director of giant panda conservation at San Diego Zoo Global. "For the giant panda, vocalizations are typically emitted in proximity to conspecifics - members of the same species - however the ability to discriminate between fine-scale differences in vocalizations is important for successful reproduction; and so, a thorough understanding of acoustic ecology is merited in order to estimate the potential for disturbance."

Hence, noise from nearby human habitations can disrupt their lifestyles.

"In order to learn about panda hearing, researchers at the San Diego Zoo worked with giant pandas to teach them to respond, if they could hear sounds at a particular pitch and loudness, thus communicating their ability to hear across the acoustic spectrum," Owen added.

The giant panda  lives in Chinese bamboo forests, and mostly in the Yangtze Basin region. However, recent deforestation and habitat loss has resulted in heavy reductions in population, due to destruction of food sources and fragmented populations that are not able to mate. Only about 61 per cent of the 50 official conservation groups are protected.

"Through this study, the pandas at the San Diego Zoo have made a significant contribution to our understanding of what may be affecting panda reproduction in habitats in China," said Ron Swaisgood, director of applied animal ecology at San Diego Zoo Global. "It is only because of the strong relationship that animal care staff have with the bears at the Zoo that we have been able to gather this information."

Their study was recently published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation.

YouTube/San Diego Zoo