|A giant panda at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.|
|Giant panda range|
Although it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo. Pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may get honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. As a result of farming, deforestation and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
Appearance[change | change source]
Giant pandas are about the size of an American black bear. They are about 3 feet (91 cm) tall at the shoulder when they are standing on all four legs. They are about 6 feet (180 cm) long. Males weigh up to 251 pounds (114 kg) in the wild. Females usually weigh less than 220 pounds (100 kg).
Living areas[change | change source]
Wild giant pandas live in the mountains of central China. They live in forests of tall trees. They eat the bamboo that grows under the trees. The weather is rainy and misty in these mountain forests. There are thick clouds almost all the time.
Food and water[change | change source]
In the wild, giant pandas eat a lot of bamboo. Ninety-nine percent of the food they eat is bamboo. They eat as much as 40 pounds (18 kg) of bamboo every day. They spend 10 to 16 hours every day looking for food and eating it.
Giant pandas get a lot of water from the bamboo they eat. They need more water though. They drink from the fresh water streams and rivers in the mountain. Melting snow high in the mountains runs into these streams and rivers.
Kinds of giant pandas[change | change source]
There are two kinds of giant panda. They both live in China. The best known is the black and white panda. Its scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca.
The other giant panda has dark brown and light brown fur. Its skull is smaller than the other giant panda. It has larger molars. This panda lives only in the Qinling Mountains. Its scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis.
Baby pandas[change | change source]
Giant pandas are ready to have babies (cubs) when they are between the ages of four and eight years. They may be able to have babies until about age 20. Female pandas are ready to have a baby only once a year. This is in the springtime. There are only two to three days she is ready for a baby. 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.
Giant pandas and people[change | change source]
Today, the giant panda is a symbol for China. It is protected by the Chinese government. Killing a giant panda is a crime. The giant panda may become extinct. It will die out if the forests of bamboo continue to disappear.
People outside of eastern Asia did not know about the giant panda until 1869. The first "Westerner" to see a live panda was a German zoologist 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 the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
In the 1970s, China began showing giant pandas in zoos in the United States and Japan as a type of diplomacy. 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.
Zoos[change | change source]
Currently, 14 cities outside of China have zoos that have giant pandas.
- North America
- Washington, D.C., United States
- San Diego, California, United States
- Memphis, Tennessee, United States
- Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Toronto, Ontario Canada
- Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Tokyo, Japan
- Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
- Shirahama, Wakayama, Japan 
- Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan[source?]
- Hong Kong, China
Endangered animal[change | change source]
The giant panda is an endangered species. It may become extinct. 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. It is a crime. The penalties are harsh.
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.
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.
Helping pandas to survive[change | change source]
China set up the first giant panda nature reserve in 1963. Other nature reserves were also set up. There were 40 giant panda reserves in 2006.
Related pages[change | change source]
References[change | change source]
- Scheff, Duncan (2002). Giant Pandas. Animals of the rain forest (illustrated ed.). Heinemann-Raintree Library. p. 7. ISBN 0-7398-5529-8.
- Lindburg, Donald G.; Baragona, Karen (2004). Giant Pandas: Biology and Conservation. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23867-2.
- "Ailuropoda melanoleuca". iucn. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/712/0. Retrieved 10/18/2013.
- Quote: "Bamboo forms 99 percent of a panda's diet", "more than 99 percent of their diet is bamboo": p. 63 of Lumpkin & Seidensticker 2007 (as seen in the 2002 edition).
- "Giant Panda". Discovery Communications, LLC. http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/giant-panda/. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
- "Giant Pandas". National Zoological Park. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/PandaFacts/default.cfm. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- Scheff, Duncan (2002). Giant Pandas. Animals of the rain forest (illustrated ed.). Heinemann-Raintree Library. p. 8. ISBN 0-7398-5529-8.
- "Giant Pandas". Smithsonian National Zoological Park. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giantpandas/pandafacts/. Retrieved 10/18/2013.
- Hammond, Paula (2010). The Atlas of Endangered Animals: Wildlife Under Threat Around the World. Marshall Cavendish. p. 58. ISBN 0761478728.
- "Giant Panda, symbol of China, shed happiness at the world's zoos". People's daily onlnine, English version. http://english.people.com.cn/200604/10/eng20060410_257131.html. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
- "Panda message make foreigners more aware of China". Chinaview.cn. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-10/29/content_6968735.htm. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
- "The Giant Panda". Katherine Kennedy. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web3/kennedy3.html. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
- Earth's Changing Environment. Learn & Explore. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2010. p. 49. ISBN 1615353399.
- "The Panda Lady: Ruth Harkness (Part 1)". Female explorers. http://femexplorers.com/full_article.php?article_id=17. Retrieved 1 February 2007.
- "China's Panda Diplomacy". Time. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1736273,00.html. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- "On this page you can find information about the giant pandas who live outside of China.". GiantPandaZoo. http://www.giantpandazoo.com/home.html. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- "Zoologischer Garten Berlin". GiantPandaZoo. http://www.giantpandazoo.com/ZooBerlin.html. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- Oleksyn, Veronika (23 August 2007). "Panda gives surprise birth in Austria". AP via Yahoo! News. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070823/ap_on_re_eu/austria_panda_birth;_ylt=AlL3xT8wyJr1.OzERBuxLYR0bBAF. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
- "Pandas sent off to Spain". http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/pandas-send-off-to-spain-from-chengdu-research-base/offbeat-news. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
- Casey, Michael (28 May 2009). "China experts say Thailand's panda cub healthy". Associated Press. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30980596/.
- "Giant panda pair headed for Tokyo zoo". http://www.physorg.com/news199456657.html. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
- "Kobe Oji Zoo". GiantPandaZoo. http://www.giantpandazoo.com/KobeOjiZoo.html. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- "Panda Zoos List". www.GiantPandaZoo.com. http://www.giantpandazoo.com/panda/panda-zoos. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
- "Rudd gives panda pledge". ABC. 11 April 2008. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/11/2214650.htm?section=justin. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
Other websites[change | change source]
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Giant Panda|
|Wikispecies has information on: Ailuropoda melanoleuca.|