It's recently been announced that the Panda's genome has been figured out. Shockingly, it's been revealed to be a type of bear

Personally, I've always thought that being an extremely fussy eater coupled with a lack of interest in sex is nature's way of saying 'you're fired'.

The case against the Panda is this. It's the biggest piece of eye candy the conservation movement has, and consequently the panda receives a disproportionately large amount of resources - financial, material and human - in an attempt to sustain this single species. It only eats a particular type of bamboo a certain age, to which it's not particularly well adapted to eating as it was originally a carnivore or omnivore - not a herbivore. It famously shows no interest in reproduction, and it lives in the world's most over-populated country.

Funnily enough, I found out recently that the naturalist Chris Packham has similar views regarding the Panda. It looks like I'd be with him as we throw the world's last panda onto the barbecue. He claims that it's better to save a habitat, firstly, and that, secondly, to focus on particular species means that unglamorous species such as rats and the like, will be over-looked in favour of the furry, cute and cuddly ones.

Panda burger, anyone?

As far as I'm concerned the rats can f*ck off.

Stuff em.

We'll just get some grizzly's and dress em up in mime outfits. Job done.

Jonny don't drop your panda burger on the panda rug

Should we just let the world eco-system pass, we shouldn't save any species.

As an animal lover i think every endangered animal should be given an equal amount of help in survival, so maybe slack the help with pandas and help another but I dont think they should be ignored

Can't they cross beed them with Grizzly Bears. That will put a bit of life in to the Gene Pool, and they will eat anything and be better at looking after themselves.

Unfortunately, no - the definition of species implies that members of two separate species can't have offspring that can in breed, which is why mules (a cross between horse and donkey) can't breed.

I have that T-shirt

I wish I'd bought it when I saw it

Opening this topic out a bit, it occurred to me that the plight of the Panda is also the plight of Ethiopia.

With virtually zero natural resources or minerals & a population at the mercy of a worsening climate, Ethiopia has very little going for it. Has the time come to stop throwing aid at a hopeless cause?

I'm not so sure that it is a hopeless cause - it's got problems, but some of those can solved if the will was there.

If you're trying to draw an analogy between Ethiopians and Pandas, it's one I'd reject outright: Pandas are at an evolutionary dead end and under threat of extinction; Ethiopians are not.

Incidentally, there is a thread on this topic here, so I'd suggest that the issue of Ethiopia be discussed there.