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Giant pandas no longer endangered

How about some good news for your Labor Day weekend?

WOLONG, CHINA - OCTOBER 20: A giant panda eats bamboo at the Wolong Giant Panda Bear Research Center, located high in the mountains some 130 km from Chengdu, on October 20, 2004 Sichuan province, China The center was established in 1963 primarily to protect the habitat of the giant panda. Today the center continues to care for almost 50 pandas while focusing on breeding and research on bamboo ecology. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

How about some good news for your Labor Day weekend?

Thanks to successful conservation efforts, giant pandas are no longer endangered, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced Sunday.

The fluffy critters are now listed as vulnerable.

The IUCN says effective forest protection and reforestation have led to a growth in the giant panda’s population.

They aren’t totally out of the woods though: Climate change is predicted to eliminate more than 35 percent of the panda’s bamboo habitat in the next 80 years.

The giant panda’s scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca. They are native to south central China.

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