What is the Panda's evolutionary history?

Fossil evidence suggests that the Pygmy Giant Panda (Ailuropoda microta) is the earliest known ancestor of the Giant Panda. 

It was smaller, measuring around 1m (3 ft.) in length, while the modern Giant Panda grows to around 1.5 m (5 ft.). The first discovered skull of the animal, in south China, is estimated to be 2 million years old.

This research indicates that the giant panda has evolved for more than 3 million years as a completely separate lineage than that of other bears.

The ancestors of the modern giant panda were widely distributed over much of eastern and southern China as far north as Beijing. They have also been found in northern Myanmar (Burma) and northern Vietnam. Part of these places, are still panda territory today.

Modern day pandas

Today, pandas are considered one of the most charismatic animals, being a symbol of China and of nature conservation around the world.

The interest for the animal in the western world start in the late 19th century and beggining of the 20th century.

Timeline

In 1936, American fashion designer Ruth Harkness captures and takes the baby panda Su-Lin to the United States, making the cub an instant "celebrity" and evoking universal sympathy for the plight of the species and creating the 'panda cult'.

In the early 1960s the first four panda reserves are established and a nature decree issued prohibiting the hunting of a list of animals, including the panda

In 1979 WWF signs a unique agreement in Beijing for conservation cooperation with the People’s Republic of China. A number of high-priority projects in China are decided upon, the first of which is the conservation of the panda.

WWF was the first international conservation organization to work in China at the Chinese government's invitation.

A 1989 WWF-funded research and satellite imagery show that suitable habitat for pandas in the Sichuan Province has shrunk to 50 percent of its size in 1974.

In 1992 A management plan for the panda is launched following a decade of cooperation between WWF and the Chinese Ministry of Forestry. Upon completion of the plan, 60 percent of all panda habitat would be included within protected areas.

At 1998 WWF files a lawsuit over the panda loan process which results in a policy requiring U.S. zoos importing giant pandas to ensure that more than half of the funds associated with a panda loan to be channelled into the conservation of wild pandas and their habitat.

In June 2004 the result of the Third National Survey on the Giant Panda and its habitat released by the State Council of China. The survey counted 1,600 pandas - a growth of 40% in the panda population compared to what was thought to exist in the 1980s.