Comeback Species✓✓ 2 independent sources
Giant pandas downgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable
1,864 wild pandas (+17% in a decade)
China's nationwide census found 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, a 17% rise over the decade to 2014, prompting the IUCN's 2016 Red List downgrade from Endangered to Vulnerable. WWF celebrated the win for forest protection while warning that habitat fragmentation and climate-driven bamboo loss still threaten the species.
Wild giant pandas grew 17% in a decade to 1,864 — enough for the IUCN to downgrade the species from Endangered to Vulnerable in September 2016.