Pandas
The Giant Panda (black-and-white cat-foot) (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), is a mammal classified in the bear family, Ursidae, native to central-western and southwestern China. Giant Pandas are one of the rarest mammals.
Pandas are easily recognized by their large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears and across their round body.
Giant pandas live in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Pandas once lived in lowland areas, however, farming, forest clearing and other development now restrict giant pandas to the mountains. However, the mist shrouded mountain forests of China, have slowly disappeared over the last century. Many of the bamboo areas which are vital for the Panda's diet and survival are being cut down by people who then build farms there. The Giant Panda is an endangered species. According to the latest report, China has 239 giant pandas in captivity (128 of them in Wolong and 67 in Chengdu) and another 27 pandas living outside the country. It also estimated that around 1,590 pandas are living in the wild.
Giant Panda Characteristics
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The Giant Panda has a black-and-white coat.
Adult pandas measure around 1.5 metres long and around 75 centimetres tall at the shoulder.
Males are 10 - 20% larger than females. Male pandas can weigh up to 115 kilograms (253 pounds).
Female pandas are generally smaller than males and can occasionally weigh up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds).
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The giant panda has a body typical of bears. The panda has black fur on their ears, eye patches, muzzle, legs and shoulders. The rest of the pandas coat is white. The panda's thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in the cool forests of its habitat. Giant pandas have large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles for crushing tough bamboo. Many people find these cuddly looking bears to be lovable, however, giant pandas can be as dangerous as any other bear.
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Pandas have the largest molars out of all the carnivorous mammals. The forepaws of the panda have an extra 'thumb' called an 'opposable pseudo thumb' which is used in conjunction with its 'forefingers' and enables the panda to grasp even small bamboo shoots with precision. |
After the sloth bear, the panda has the longest tail in the bear family measuring 4 - 6 inches long. Giant Pandas can usually live to be 20 - 30 years old in captivity.
Giant Panda Diet
Although Pandas mostly eat bamboo, they are still classed as a carnivore. Pandas have a digestive system of a carnivore, however, they have adapted to a vegetarian diet through their large consumption of bamboo. A Pandas digestive system cannot digest the cellulose in bamboo, that is why they have to eat so much and for long periods of the day.
The average Giant Panda eats as much as 20 to 30 pounds of bamboo shoots a day. Because pandas consume a diet low in nutrition, it is important that they keep their digestive tract full. Pandas may eat other foods such as honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges and bananas.
Pandas do not hibernate as they are not able to store enough fat to feed them through the winter on their diet of bamboo.
Giant Panda Behaviour
Pandas are good at climbing trees and they can swim as well. Pandas are difficult to see out in the wild as they live among the thick dense bamboo plants in old-growth forests which is their favourite habitat. Pandas are very solitary creatures and will live alone and will only meet other pandas during mating season. Giant panda bears are silent creatures most of the time, however, they can bleat. Pandas do not roar like other bears, however, they do have 11 different calls, four of which are only used during mating. Giant Panda bears are solitary creatures outside of the breeding seasons. Pandas do not associate with each other otherwise. The Giant Panda is active at twilight and during the night. Throughout the day, it will make its dens in caves, hollow trees and dense thickets. To avoid competition with other pandas over food and to signal its presence, the Panda will mark its territory by putting a pungent secretion from its anal glands on stones and tree trunks.
The male Giant Panda's home range may overlap with several female territories and when breeding season arrives during the springtime, he will attempt to mate with these local females.
The female Pandas usually announce their readiness to breed by becoming more vocal and leaving special scent marks around to enable the males to track them. The females give birth to their cubs in the Autumn and these stay as constant companions for the next 18 months or more.
Pandas signify aggression by lowering their heads and staring at their opponents. To signal submissiveness, a panda will put its head between its front legs and often hide its eye-patches with its paws. This position is also adopted by females during mating, and by captive animals that are being harassed by humans. At close range, aggression is signaled by a swipe with a paw, or by a low-pitched growl or bark that will send an opponent scampering up the nearest tree.
Giant Panda Range
There are about 1600 Pandas left in the wild. Most of them live within 33 Panda reserves covering a total area of 20,000 square kilometres (7,722 square miles). The reserves are small and isolated which prevents the Pandas from wandering in search of new food sources and mates.
Giant Panda Reproduction
Pandas cannot increase their numbers at a fast rate. The reason being, is that Pandas reproduce at a slow rate. It is usual for a mother Panda to give birth to just one single Panda cub at a time and the breeding intervals are usually 2 years.
The female Panda also only comes into season (able to mate) for 72 hours a year. Therefore, when a Panda cub is born, it is vital that it survives to carry on the life cycle.
With many conservation programs in place today, the Panda is desperately trying to be saved from extinction. It would be one of the greatest tragedies within the animal kingdom if this great bear was wiped out completely.
Giant Panda Conservation
Probably the most major threat to the survival of the Giant Panda Bear is the destruction of their natural habitats, along with increased human population and poaching. The different varieties of bamboo go through periodic die-offs as part of their renewal cycle. Without the ability to move to new areas which have not been affected, starvation and death will certainly occur for the giant panda. Such die-offs of the bamboo also put the giant pandas in more direct contact with farmers and poachers as the bears try to find new areas in which to feed.
The recent announcement that the Chinese government will nearly double protected areas for giant pandas in the Qinling mountain range by creating five new panda reserves and five 'corridors' (linking protected regions) is expected to have a major benefit on the future of the panda. Many organizations are continuously supporting and trying to find ways to save and preserve the existence of this special, adorable bear.
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While the dragon has historically served as China's national emblem, in recent decades the Giant Panda has also served as emblem for the country. The pandas image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold and platinum coins. |
