The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, which killed 69,000 people and left 4.3 million homeless, also devastated more than 23 percent of a key swath of territory inhabited by endangered giant pandas, according to a study by Chinese scientists. The study, published in the journal Frontiers of Ecology, said 
that the quake in the South Minshan region turned 137 square miles of prime, bamboo-forested habitat into bare ground and that the quake also fragmented other key panda territories. Overall, said the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 60 percent of the region’s panda population — estimated to be as low as 35 individuals — was affected by the earthquake. The destruction and fragmentation of the panda habitat, documented by satellite photographs, will make it more difficult for the animals to find each other and breed and could increase the risk of inbreeding, the report said. The scientists said that, as a result of the earthquake, they were recommending the establishment of protected corridors for pandas connecting areas of prime habitat, the creation of more nature reserves, and the protection of panda territories as towns are relocated and rebuilt in the devastated region.