Thegiant panda,Gianticus Pandaicus, is abear.[1][2] It lives in south centralChina.[3]
Although it belongs to theorderCarnivora, the panda's diet is almost 99%bamboo.[4] Pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents orcarrion. In captivity, they may get honey, eggs, fish, yams,shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.[5][6]
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly inSichuan province, but also in theShaanxi andGansu provinces.[7]As a result of farming,deforestation and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
Giant pandas are bears. They have black and white fur all around them. The black fur is on their ears, around their eyes, on their legs, and on theirshoulders.[8]
Giant pandas are approximately the size of anAmerican black bear, standing at about 3 feet (91 cm) tall at the shoulder when on all four legs. They measure around 7 feet (210 cm) in length. In the wild, males can weigh up to 251 pounds (114 kg), while females typically weigh less, generally staying below 220 pounds (100 kg).[8]
Wild giant pandas have lived in the mountains of centralChina. They live in forests of tall trees. They eat the bamboo that grows under the trees. The weather is rainy and misty in the mountain forests. There are thick clouds almost all the time.[8]
Bamboo is the main diet of pandas. Ninety-nine percent of the food they eat is bamboo. They eat as much as 40 pounds (18 kg) ofbamboo every day. They spend 10 to 16 hours every day looking for food and eating it.[8]
Bamboo is a grass. Sometimes, giant pandas eat othergrasses. They also eat littlerodents ormusk deer babies (fawns).[3] In zoos, giant pandas eat bamboo,sugar cane, vegetables, and fruit.[8]
Giant pandas get a lot of water from the bamboo they eat. They need more water though. They drink from the freshwater streams and rivers in the mountain. Melting snow high in the mountains runs into these streams and rivers.[8]
There are twosubspecies of giant pandas. They both live in China. The best known is the black and white panda. Its scientific name isAiluropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca.
The other giant panda has dark brown and light brown fur. Its skull is smaller than the other giant panda. It has largermolars. This panda lives only in the Qinling Mountains. Though often called the Qinling Panda, Its scientific name isAiluropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis.[9]
Giant pandas are ready to have babies (cubs) when they are between the ages of four and eight. They may be able to have babies until about age 20. Female pandas are ready to have a baby only once a year in the springtime. There are only two or three days during which a baby panda can form in the mother's belly. Calls and scents bring the males and female pandas to each other.
Female pandas may give birth to two young. Usually only one lives. Giant panda cubs may stay with their mothers for up to three years. Then, they leave her for a life of their own.
Today, the giant panda is a symbol forChina.[10][11] It is protected by the Chinese government. Killing a giant panda is acrime.[12] The giant panda may become extinct or die out if the forests of bamboo continue to disappear.[13]
People outside of easternAsia did not know about the giant panda until 1869. The first "Westerner" to see a live panda was aGermanzoologist in 1916. In 1936,Ruth Harkness became the first Westerner to bring a live giant panda out of China. It was a cub (baby panda) named Su-Lin. The cub was taken to live at theBrookfield Zoo inChicago.[14]
In the 1970s, China began showing giant pandas in zoos in theUnited States andJapan as a type ofdiplomacy. This happened until 1984 when China changed how this was done. Starting in 1984, China would allow zoos to keep the giant pandas for 10 years, but the zoo would have to pay China up to$1,000,000 each year. Also, the zoo would have to agree that any cubs born would belong to China.[15]
The giant panda is anendangered species. It may becomeextinct. In 2013, it was estimated that there were less than 2,500 mature giant pandas living in the wild. Illegal hunting is no longer a problem. Hunting for pandas is a crime. The penalties are harsh if you hunt pandas.[3]
The greatest threat to survival is the loss of living areas. People are ruining the areas where pandas live. They are cutting down trees. They are building farms. Groups of pandas are forced to live in small areas. They are isolated. They cannot mix other panda groups.[3]
Giant pandas eat bamboo. Sometimes the bamboo dies off. At one time, pandas could move to an area where bamboo was still growing. Moving has become more and more difficult. People are living and working in panda areas. Pandas cannot move about as freely as they once did.[3]
↑Quote: "Bamboo forms 99 percent of a panda's diet", "more than 99 percent of their diet is bamboo": p. 63 ofLumpkin & Seidensticker 2007 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFLumpkinSeidensticker2007 (help) (as seen in the 2002 edition).
↑"Giant Panda". Discovery Communications, LLC. Retrieved8 August 2010.
↑"Giant Pandas". National Zoological Park. Retrieved7 November 2010.
↑Scheff, Duncan (2002).Giant Pandas. Animals of the rain forest (illustrated ed.). Heinemann-Raintree Library. p. 8.ISBN0-7398-5529-8.
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