www.fws.gov/international/pdf/archive/factsheet-giant-panda-facts.pdf Giant Panda Facts
What animal is black and white
and loved all over the world? If you
guessed the giant panda, you’re
right!
The giant panda is also known as
the panda bear, bamboo bear, or in
Chinese as Daxiongmao, the “large
bear cat.” In fact, its scientific
name means “black and white catfooted animal.”
Giant pandas are found only in
the mountains of central China—
in small isolated areas of the
north and central portions of the
Sichuan Province, in the mountains
bordering the southernmost part of
Gansu Province and in the Qinling
Mountains of the Shaanxi Province.
Giant pandas live in dense bamboo
and coniferous forests at altitudes
of 5,000 to 10,000 feet. The
mountains are shrouded in heavy
clouds with torrential rains or
dense mist throughout the year.
Giant pandas have existed since
the Pleistocene Era (about 600,000
years ago), when their geographic
range extended throughout
southern China.Fossil remains also
have been found in present-day
Burma.
Giant pandas are bears with
striking black and white markings.
The ears, eye patches, legs and
shoulder band are black; the rest
of the body is whitish. They have
thick, woolly coats to insulate them
from the cold. Adults are four to six
feet long and may weigh up to 350
pounds—about the same size as
the American black bear. However,
unlike the black bear, giant pandas
do not hibernate and cannot walk
on their hind legs.
The giant panda has unique front
paws—one of the wrist bones is
enlarged and elongated and is used
like a thumb, enabling the giant
panda to grasp stalks of bamboo.
They also have very powerful jaws
and teeth to crush bamboo.
While bamboo stalks and roots
make up about 95 percent of its
diet, the giant panda also feeds on
gentians, irises, crocuses, fish, and
occasionally small rodents. It must
eat 20 to 40 pounds of food each
day to survive, and spends 10 to 16
hours a day feeding.
The giant panda reaches breeding
maturity between 4 and 10 years of
age. Mating usually takes place in
the spring, and 3 to 5 months later,
one or two cubs weighing 3 to 5
ounces each is born in a sheltered
den. Usually only one cub survives.
The eyes open at 1 1/2 to 2 months
and the cub becomes mobile at
approximately three months of
age. At 12 months the cub becomes
totally independent. While their
average life span in the wild is
about 15 years, giant pandas in
captivity have been known to live
well into their twenties.
Scientists have debated for more
than a century whether giant
pandas belong to the bear family,
the raccoon family, or a separate
family of their own. This is because
the giant panda and its cousin,
the lesser or red panda, share
many characteristics with both
bears and raccoons. Recent DNA
analysis indicates that giant pandas
are more closely related to bears
and red pandas are more closely
related to raccoons. Accordingly,
giant pandas are categorized in the
bear family while red pandas are
the only members of their family,
Ailuridae.
In 1869, a French missionary and
naturalist named Pere Armand
David was the first European to
describe the giant panda.
Giant panda. John J. Mosesso
(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
In 1936, clothing designer Ruth
Harkness brought the first live
giant panda, named Su-Lin, out of
China and to the West. Su-Lin lived
at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo and was
a celebrity until he died in 1938.
Today, about 300 giant pandas
are in captivity in Chinese zoos,
reserves, and breeding centers.
Only about 24 giant pandas live
in zoos outside of China. In 1980,
the first giant panda birth outside
China occurred at the Mexico City
Zoo.
Giant pandas are among the rarest
mammals in the world—there are
an estimated 1,600 left in the wild.
Although adult giant pandas have
few natural enemies, the young
are sometimes preyed upon by
leopards.
Habitat encroachment and
destruction are the greatest threats
to the continued existence of the
giant panda. This is mainly because
of the demand for land and natural
resources by China’s 1.3 billion
inhabitants.
To offset this situation, the Chinese
government has set aside more
than 40 nature reserves where
bamboo flourishes and giant pandas
are thought to live. The government
also placed a moratorium on
logging in panda habitat through
2010.
Giant pandas are also susceptible
to poaching, or illegal killing, as
their dense fur carries a high
price in illegal markets in the Far
East. The Chinese government has
imposed life sentences for those
convicted of poaching giant pandas.
Recent sentences, however, have
been much less.
The low reproductive capacity of
the giant panda makes it more
vulnerable to these threats, and
less capable of rebounding from its
low numbers.
In 1984, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service listed the giant panda
as an endangered species under
the Endangered Species Act.
Endangered means a species is
considered in danger of extinction
throughout all or a significant
portion of its range. This protection
also prohibits giant pandas from
being imported into the United
States except under certain
conditions.
The giant panda is also protected
under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), a treaty among 175
nations aimed at illegal trade in
endangered animal and plant
species.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is the
federal agency responsible for the
U.S. government’s implementation
of CITES. The Service has
established a panda policy to assist
zoos applying for giant panda
importation permits. The policy
focuses on the conservation of the
species in the wild.
Giant pandas are currently housed
in four U.S. zoos —San Diego,
Atlanta, National, and Memphis
— under permits issued by the
Service following the Giant Panda
Policy.
Giant panda Frank Kohn/USFWS
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