(CNN) There's mixed news in the animal kingdom, as one beloved species celebrates increased numbers and another slips closer to extinction.

These developments come from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species , which assesses a species' conservation status.

First, the good news:

The giant panda is no longer an endangered species

Thanks to an increase in available habitat, the population of the giant panda rose 17% from 2004 to 2014, leading the IUCN to downgrade it from endangered to vulnerable.

A nationwide census in 2014 found 1,864 giant pandas in the wild in China, up from 1,596 in 2004, the IUCN said in its report on the animal.

Revered in Chinese culture, the giant panda was once widespread throughout southern China.

Since the 1970s, it has been the focus of one of the most intensive, high-profile campaigns to recover an endangered species, after a census by the Chinese government found around 2,459 pandas in the world -- proof of its precarious position, according to the World Wildlife Fund

Giant panda cub Nuan Nuan lives at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur.

China banned trading panda skins in 1981, and the enactment of the 1988 Wildlife Protection Law banned poaching and conferred the highest protected status to the animal. The creation of a panda reserve system in 1992 increased available habitats; today, there are 67 reserves in the country that protect 67% of the population and nearly 1.4 million hectares of habitat.

Meanwhile, partnerships between the Chinese government and international conservation nongovernmental organizations and zoos have spread research, conservation and breeding efforts. Zoo Atlanta announced Saturday that 19-year-old Lun Lun, originally from China's Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, had given birth to twins

The improved status confirms that the Chinese government's reforestation and forest protection efforts are working, the IUCN said. But climate change still threatens to eliminate more than 35% of the panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years; hence the "vulnerable" designation, which means it's still at risk of extinction.

"The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity," said WWF Director General Marco Lambertini.

Now, the bad news:

The eastern gorilla is critically endangered

Eastern gorillas populate the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northwest Rwanda and southwest Uganda, making them another victim of the region's civil wars.

Hunting of eastern gorillas, fueled by the spread of firearms, has led to a population decline of more than 70% in the past 20 years for the world's largest living primate, the IUCN said.

The eastern gorilla population, made up of two subspecies, is estimated to be fewer than 5,000, bumping it from endangered to critically endangered.

One of those subspecies, Grauer's gorilla, lost 77% of its population since 1994, declining from 16,900 individuals to just 3,800 in 2015, the IUCN said. The second subspecies, the mountain gorilla, is faring better, increasing its number to around 880 individuals, reversing a decline that began in 1996.

The mountain gorilla, seen here, is doing better than its counterpart, the Grauer's gorilla.

The change in status means four of six great apes are critically endangered, the eastern gorilla, western gorilla, Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan. The chimpanzee and bonobo are considered endangered.

In the past 20 years, Grauer's gorillas have been severely affected by human activities, the victim of poaching for bushmeat for those working in mining camps and for commercial trade, the IUCN said.

"This illegal hunting has been facilitated by a proliferation of firearms resulting from widespread insecurity in the region," said the IUCN in a report on the animal . "This rate of population loss is almost three times above that which qualifies a species as critically endangered."

Additional threats include habitat loss and degradation through agricultural and pastoral activities in DRC, along with extraction of resources, which puts added stress on natural habitats.

Illegal mining has decimated the lowlands of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a Grauer's gorilla habitat. Destruction of forest for timber, charcoal production and agriculture continues to threaten isolated gorilla populations in North Kivu and the Itombwe Massif.</s>… but iconic species still at risk

Wildlife: In a welcome piece of news for the world’s threatened wildlife, the giant panda has just been downgraded from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’ on the global list of species at risk of extinction, demonstrating how an integrated approach can help save the planet’s vanishing biodiversity, states a press release from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced the positive change to the giant panda’s official status in the Red List of Threatened Species, pointing to the 17 percent rise in the population in the decade up to 2014, when a nationwide census found 1,864 giant pandas in the wild in China.

“For over fifty years, the giant panda has been the globe’s most beloved conservation icon as well as the symbol of WWF. Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife and their habitats,” said Marco Lambertini, WWF director general.

“The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity,” added Lambertini.

While the panda’s status has improved, other species are under increasing threat, including the Eastern gorilla that is now listed as critically endangered, just one step away from extinction, due primarily to poaching.

WWF’s panda logo was designed by the organisation’s founding chairman, the naturalist and painter Sir Peter Scott in 1961. Twenty years later, WWF became the first international organisation to work in China.

Ever since, WWF has been working with the government on initiatives to save giant pandas and their habitat, including helping to establish an integrated network of giant panda reserves and wildlife corridors to connect isolated panda populations as well as working with local communities to develop sustainable livelihoods and minimise their impact on the forests.

These efforts have seen the number of panda reserves jump to 67, which now protect nearly two-thirds of all wild pandas. They have also helped to safeguard large swathes of mountainous bamboo forests, which shelter countless other species and provide natural services to vast numbers of people, including tens of millions who live alongside rivers downstream of panda habitats.

“This reclassification recognises decades of successful conservation efforts led by the Chinese government and demonstrates that investment in the conservation of iconic species like giant pandas does pay off – and benefits our society as well as species,” said Lo Sze Ping, CEO WWF-China. “Everyone should celebrate this achievement but pandas remain scattered and vulnerable, and much of their habitat is threatened by poorly-planned infrastructure projects – and remember: there are still only 1,864 left in the wild.”

After decades of work, it is clear that only a broad approach will be able to secure the long term survival of China’s giant pandas and their unique habitat, made even harder by climate change impacts. It will require even greater government investment, stronger partnerships with local communities and a wider understanding of the importance for people of conserving wildlife and the landscapes in which they live.</s>The panda is now classified as a "vulnerable" instead of "endangered" species, reflecting its growing numbers in the wild.

A leading international group has taken the giant panda off its endangered list thanks to decades of conservation efforts, but China’s government discounted the move on Monday, saying it did not view the status of the country’s beloved symbol as any less serious.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a report released Sunday that the panda is now classified as a “vulnerable” instead of “endangered” species, reflecting its growing numbers in the wild in southern China. It said the wild panda population jumped to 1,864 in 2014 from 1,596 in 2004, the result of work by Chinese agencies to enforce poaching bans and expand forest reserves.

The report warned, however, that although better forest protection has helped increase panda numbers, climate change is predicted to eliminate more than 35 per cent of its natural bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, potentially leading to another decline.

In a statement to The Associated Press, China’s State Forestry Administration said on Monday that it disputed the classification change because pandas’ natural habitats have been splintered by natural and human causes. The animals live in small, isolated groups of as few as 10 pandas that struggle to reproduce and face the risk of disappearing altogether, the agency said.

“If we downgrade their conservation status, or neglect or relax our conservation work, the populations and habitats of giant pandas could still suffer irreversible loss and our achievements would be quickly lost,” the forestry administration said. “Therefore, we’re not being alarmist by continuing to emphasize the panda species’ endangered status.”

Still, animal groups hailed the recovery of the bamboo-gobbling, black-and-white bear that has long been a symbol of China and the global conservation movement.

The panda population reached an estimated low of less than 1,000 in the 1980s due to poaching and deforestation until Beijing threw its full weight behind preserving the animal, which has been sent to zoos around the world as a gesture of Chinese diplomatic goodwill.

The Chinese government and the World Wildlife Fund first established the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province in 1980. Wild panda numbers have slowly rebounded as China cracked down on the skin trade and gradually expanded its protected forest areas to now cover 1.4 million hectares.

International groups and the Chinese government have worked to save wild pandas and breed them at enormous cost, attracting criticism that the money could be better spent saving other animals facing extinction. The IUCN drew attention on Sunday to the 70 per cent decline in the eastern gorilla population over the past 20 years.

But the WWF, whose logo has been a panda since 1961, celebrated the panda’s re-classification, saying it proved that aggressive investment does pay off “when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together.”</s>Humpbacks also taken off list HONOLULU – Federal authorities took most humpback whales off the endangered species list Tuesday, saying their numbers have recovered through international efforts to protect the giant mammals. The move applies to nine of the 14 distinct populations of humpback whales. Their numbers have steadily grown since a global ban on commercial whaling started nearly 50 years ago, the National Marine Fisheries Service said. The moratorium remains in effect. However, four distinct populations remain endangered and one is now listed as threatened, some of which inhabit U.S. waters. The Central America population, which feeds off the West Coast, and the Western North Pacific population, which inhabits the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, are still endangered. The Mexico population, which feeds off the West Coast and Alaska, is threatened.

If you ask some wildlife conservationists, it’s time to break out the celebratory bamboo and digest the chunks for 14 hours at a go.

Giant pandas are no longer endangered, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, the non-governmental organization that maintains the authoritative list of the world’s rarest species. Officially, the panda is now “vulnerable” – a species still at risk, but a step back from the brink of extinction.

But the Chinese government is not yet ready to agree with the new classification.

The IUCN announced the panda’s status change in Hawaii on Sunday, in an update to the organization’s Red List. That list contains nearly 83,000 species, of which nearly 3 in 10 are threatened with extinction. The panda was not the only animal to get a status update. A sharp decrease in an Eastern gorilla subspecies, as the Washington Post reported, lead to a classification of “critically endangered.” Species are classified on a spectrum from “least concern” to “extinct,” a system the IUCN uses to inform and influence government wildlife policies.

“The improved status confirms that the Chinese government’s efforts to conserve this species are effective,” the IUCN said in a news release. When the IUCN first classified pandas in 1965, the organization listed the species as “very rare.” Pandas would remain rare – or, in newer terminology, endangered – until the animal’s most recent update.

Marco Lambertini, the director general of the WWF, said in a statement, “The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity.” The panda is particularly dear to the WWF, as the wildlife conservation organization has used the large black-and-white mammal as its symbol for more than five decades.

But is difficult to count the animals with absolute confidence – a widely used method relies on identifying individuals from tooth marks in bamboo, extracted from scat. China has surveyed wild pandas four times since 1974. In the third survey, completed in 2004, China found bite-mark evidence for 1,596 animals; a decade later, the most recent survey documented 1,864 pandas in an effort that required 60,000 person-days and took place across some 17,000 wooded square miles.

Complicating the matter is the fact that biologists have criticized the accuracy of comparing those surveys.

As Nature magazine pointed out in 2015, the latest survey took place over a larger area. And although DNA testing can give more accurate panda counts, fecal samples collected in the fourth survey were “not sufficiently fresh” to provide genetic material, according to the IUCN.

This uncertainty is why some experts and Chinese officials are not celebrating the IUCN update.

Marc Brody, an adviser to China’s Wolong Nature Reserve, told National Geographic that “it is too early to conclude that pandas are actually increasing in the wild – perhaps we are simply getting better at counting wild pandas.”

China will continue to keep the panda under first class protection; the country has made the panda a particular conservation focus, far more so than river dolphins, pangolins and other rare species.

“If we downgrade their conservation status, or neglect or relax our conservation work, the populations and habitats of giant pandas could still suffer irreversible loss and our achievements would be quickly lost,” China’s State Forestry Administration, which spearheads the giant panda survey, said in a statement to the Associated Press on Monday. “Therefore, we’re not being alarmist by continuing to emphasize the panda species’ endangered status.”</s>After years of conservation work on behalf of the iconic species, the giant panda has just been downgraded from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’ on the global list of species at risk of extinction,

The surprising piece of good news demonstrates how an integrated approach between governments and environmental groups can save our planet’s endangered species.

“Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife and their habitats,” said WWF Director General Marco Lambertini. “The recovery shows that when science, political will and local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity.”

WWF’s panda logo was designed by the organization’s founding chairman, the naturalist and painter Sir Peter Scott in 1961. Twenty years later, WWF became the first international organization to work in China.

WATCH: Panda Cub Plays in the Snow for the First Time

Ever since, WWF has been working with the government on initiatives to save giant pandas, including helping to establish an integrated network of giant panda reserves and wildlife corridors to connect isolated panda populations as well as working with local communities to develop sustainable livelihoods and minimize their impact on the forests.

MORE: Blue Parrot Considered Extinct in the Wild Caught on Video in Brazil

These efforts have seen the number of panda reserves jump to 67, which now protect nearly two-thirds of the 1,864 wild pandas in China. They have also helped to safeguard large swathes of mountainous bamboo forests, which shelter countless other species and provide natural services to vast numbers of people, including tens of millions who live alongside rivers downstream of panda habitat.</s>"Too soon" to take giant panda off the endangered list

BEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) - It is too soon to downgrade the conservation status of China's giant pandas as they still face severe threats, a leading conservationist said, after the International Union for Conservation of Nature took the species off its endangered list.

The giant panda has emerged as a success story for conservation in China whose cause has been championed right up to the highest levels in Beijing, where leaders often give the animal to other countries as a sign of friendship.

As of the end of 2015, China had 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, up from about 1,100 in 2000, with 422 in captivity, according to the government.

But on Sunday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the species as "vulnerable" rather than "endangered", citing growing numbers in the wild due to decades of protection efforts.

Zhang Hemin, of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, known in China as the "father of pandas", told the official Xinhua news agency that this was a hasty move.

"A severely fragmented natural habitat still threatens the lives of pandas; genetic transfer between different populations will improve, but is still not satisfactory," Zhang said in a report late on Tuesday.

"Climate change is widely expected to have an adverse effect on the bamboo forests which provide both their food and their home. And there is still a lot to be done in both protection and management terms."

The wild giant panda population faced a lack of genetic diversity as it was broken up into 33 isolated groups, some of which had fewer than 10 individuals, Zhang said.

Of those 18 sub-populations with fewer than 10 pandas, all faced "a high risk of collapse", he added.

Only when the wild population could grow steadily without the addition of captive-bred pandas could the species be called less endangered, Zhang said.

"If the conservation status is downgraded, protection work might slacken off and both the panda population and their habitat are more likely to suffer irreversible loss," he added.

"The present protection achievements will be lost and some small sub-populations may die out."

Shi Xiaogang, of the Wolong National Nature Reserve in southwestern Sichuan province, China's main panda conservation centre, said pandas still needed continuous protection, according to Xinhua.

It was good China's efforts had been recognised. "But as conservators, we know that the situation of the wild panda is still very risky," Shi said. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)</s>(CNN) There's mixed news in the animal kingdom, as one beloved species celebrates increased numbers and another slips closer to extinction.

These developments come from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species , which assesses a species' conservation status.

The giant panda is no longer an endangered species

Thanks to an increase in available habitat, the population of the giant panda rose 17% from 2004 to 2014, leading the IUCN to downgrade it from endangered to vulnerable.

Revered in Chinese culture, the giant panda was once widespread throughout southern China.

China banned trading panda skins in 1981, and the enactment of the 1988 Wildlife Protection Law banned poaching and conferred the highest protected status to the animal. The creation of a panda reserve system in 1992 increased available habitats; today, there are 67 reserves in the country that protect 67% of the population and nearly 1.4 million hectares of habitat.

The improved status confirms that the Chinese government's reforestation and forest protection efforts are working, the IUCN said. But climate change still threatens to eliminate more than 35% of the panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years; hence the "vulnerable" designation, which means it's still at risk of extinction.

"The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity," said WWF Director General Marco Lambertini.

Eastern gorillas populate the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northwest Rwanda and southwest Uganda, making them another victim of the region's civil wars.

Hunting of eastern gorillas, fueled by the spread of firearms, has led to a population decline of more than 70% in the past 20 years for the world's largest living primate, the IUCN said.

The eastern gorilla population, made up of two subspecies, is estimated to be fewer than 5,000, bumping it from endangered to critically endangered.

One of those subspecies, Grauer's gorilla, lost 77% of its population since 1994, declining from 16,900 individuals to just 3,800 in 2015, the IUCN said. The second subspecies, the mountain gorilla, is faring better, increasing its number to around 880 individuals, reversing a decline that began in 1996.

The change in status means four of six great apes are critically endangered, the eastern gorilla, western gorilla, Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan. The chimpanzee and bonobo are considered endangered.

In the past 20 years, Grauer's gorillas have been severely affected by human activities, the victim of poaching for bushmeat for those working in mining camps and for commercial trade, the IUCN said.

Additional threats include habitat loss and degradation through agricultural and pastoral activities in DRC, along with extraction of resources, which puts added stress on natural habitats.

Illegal mining has decimated the lowlands of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a Grauer's gorilla habitat. Destruction of forest for timber, charcoal production and agriculture continues to threaten isolated gorilla populations in North Kivu and the Itombwe Massif.</s>A giant panda has amused thousands of web users after it was filmed sneezing non-stop while lying in its enclosure.

The popular video was shared by People's Daily Online on its Facebook page and quickly gathered some 27,000 views.

The black-and-white bear sneezes 11 times in less than 20 seconds.

The 56-second-clip captured the priceless reactions of the animal when it couldn't stop sneezing.

The bear was seen trying to use its paws to cover its mouth when it sneezed - just like a human being.

Although it remains unknown when or where the video was shot, it has delighted thousands of social media users.

The panda's name and gender also remain unknown.

It seems the video has been widely shared on Chinese media by panda-specific accounts, such as 'Pandapia' and 'April Da Tian Jiang'.

This adorable bear is not the first panda that rose to fame due to its powerful sneezes.

In 2009, a video footage showing a mother panda's shocked look as her cub sneezes in front of her became an internet sensation.

The clip shows a baby panda named Chi Chi sneezing at a panda breeding centre in China’s Sichuan province.

It gathered more than 250 million views online in total and has spawned numerous spoofs – including one on the American cartoon show South Park.

The popular video was also reimagined in a US$5.7 million mockumentary, Sneezing Baby Panda, in 2014.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report released on Sunday that the animal is now classified as a 'vulnerable' instead of 'endangered' species, reflecting its growing numbers in the wild in southern China.

It said the wild panda population jumped to 1,864 in 2014 from 1,596 in 2004, the result of work by Chinese agencies to enforce poaching bans and expand forest reserves.

The IUCN report warned that although better forest protection has helped increase panda numbers, climate change is predicted to eliminate more than 35 per cent of its natural bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, potentially leading to another decline.

Animal groups hailed the recovery of the bamboo-munching, black-and-white bear that has long been a symbol of China and the global conservation movement.

The panda population reached an estimated low of less than 1,000 in the 1980s due to poaching and deforestation until Beijing threw its full weight behind preserving the animal.</s>Zookeepers at Longleat are celebrating the birth of this gorgeous pair of fluffy red panda twins.

It is only the second time the species, which is endangered in the wild in Asia, has bred successfully at the safari park in Wiltshire.

Twin red panda births are extremely rare and so staff there were doubly delighted when the sisters were born seven weeks ago.

These gorgeous twin red panda sisters were born at Longleat Safari Park seven weeks ago, and the first pictures of them have just been released. The shy and solitary red panda is endangered in the wild and it's only the second time babies have been born in captivity at Longleat

The babies' mother is Rufina - whose name means 'red haired'. She came to Longleat from Italy in 2013.

In the wild, red pandas live in Nepal, Bhutan and China - but the species is under threat.

Sam Allworthy, a zookeeper at Longleat, said: 'We're delighted with how well Rufina is looking after the young cubs and both mother and babies are doing brilliantly.

'Cubs don't tend to start venturing out on their own for the first three months and Rufina, like all red panda mums, regularly moves the cubs to different nesting areas.

'This is perfectly natural behaviour but makes keeping track of the babies, or even confirming what sex they are, somewhat problematic for us, although we are pretty sure both babies are female.'

The father of the panda babies is Ajenda, which means 'King of the mountain'. He came to Longleat from Germany in 2012.

The species, which isn't related to the giant panda, as been recently re-classified as 'endangered' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The new arrivals are doubly welcome as their parents are a key factor in the ongoing success of the European Endangered Species Programme for the red panda due to their diverse genetics.</s>HONOLULU – The world’s largest living primate has been listed as critically endangered, making four of the six great ape species only one step away from extinction, according to a report released Sunday at the World Conservation Congress in Hawaii.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, cited illegal hunting in downgrading the status of the eastern gorilla on its Red List of Endangered Species. The list contains more than 80,000 species, and almost 24,000 of those are threatened with extinction.

“To see the eastern gorilla – one of our closest cousins – slide toward extinction is truly distressing,” Inger Andersen, IUCN director general, said in a statement. “Conservation action does work and we have increasing evidence of it. It is our responsibility to enhance our efforts to turn the tide and protect the future of our planet.”

The organization said an estimated 5,000 eastern gorillas remain in the wild, a decline of about 70 percent over the past 20 years.

Of all the great ape species – the eastern gorilla, western gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan, chimpanzee and bonobo – only the chimpanzee and bonobo are not considered critically endangered. But they are listed as endangered.

For the gorillas of the Congo, where the majority of the population lives, conservation will be a struggle because of political instability, said primatologist Russell Mittermeier, executive vice chairman of the Conservation International environmental group and chairman of IUCN’s primates specialist group.

“There are no simple solutions right now, other than a much greater investment in on-the-ground protection until the region stabilizes, at which time major ecotourism, as is happening in the neighboring countries of Uganda and Rwanda, can take place,” Mittermeier said in an email to The Associated Press.

In an interview, Catherine Novelli, U.S. undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, called the gorilla numbers a man-made tragedy.

The research by the Wildlife Conservation Society was accepted by the IUCN, which is made up of private and government entities and is hosting the World Conservation Congress. More than 9,000 delegates from over 180 countries are attending this week’s conference in Honolulu, including several heads of state.

“Critical endangered status will raise the profile of this gorilla subspecies and bring attention to its plight. It has tended to be the neglected ape in Africa, despite being the largest ape in the world,” the study’s lead scientist, Andrew Plumptre, said in an email.

The IUCN compiles its peer-reviewed Red List alongside partners such as universities and environmental groups within animals’ natural habitat. It is the most comprehensive analysis of endangered species and guides government policy around the world, said Cristian Samper, president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Other animals on the list fared better than the apes, including the giant panda, which was previously on the endangered list. It is now listed as “vulnerable” after conservation efforts helped protect its habitat.

“For over 50 years, the giant panda has been the globe’s most beloved conservation icon,” said Marco Lambertini, director general of the environmental group World Wildlife Fund. “Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife.”

Hunting and habitat destruction are taking a toll on animals and plants in variety of areas, the report said.

In Hawaii, about 90 percent of native plants are threatened with extinction because of invasive species like rats, pigs and non-native plants, the IUCN said.

In Africa, the plains zebra population has declined by a quarter since 2002, according to the group’s statement.

Find more stories by AP’s Caleb Jones at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/caleb-jones. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalebAP.
The giant panda is removed from IUCN's endangered species list but is replaced by the Eastern gorilla.