Pandas

Some records show that there were pandas as early as the ice age around 1 to 3 million years ago! A fossilized lower jaw of a panda was excavated in the province of Puding Baiyanjiao Cave. It is the earliest record of today's species of the giant panda. A Chinese farmer has donated to the provincial museum of southwest China's Guizhou province a fossil of the cranium of a giant panda. Museum officials said that the donation is the best preserved fossil of the giant panda's cranium to date. It is estimated that only 1,000 pandas survive in China's bamboo-rich provinces. Their numbers whittled down as man has enroached on their habitat and by their poor reproductive capabilities, both in the wild and in captivity. Not to mention their everyday struggle for survival with natural predators and mother nature. The habitat of the panda is reduced by man everyday. What once extended far and wide is now contained in a few small areas. With the local farmers, mining and logging industry raping their habitat. Not to mention increasing human population. Their domain grows smaller and smaller.

Giant pandas are found only in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi. The rich, dense, bamboo filled forests provide a haven for the majestic panda. They live high in the misty cloud covered mountains. These forests are very damp and rainy. In one year, a forest may receive up to 50 inches (127 cm) of rain and snow. It is also home to many other beautiful creatures, such as the golden pheasant, clouded leopard, sanbar deer, hog badger, wild pigs, and porcupines just to name a few. The panda's dependency on bamboo as a main food source is a problem. Each species of bamboo has a unique reproductive cycle. You see bamboo flowers and die once every 40 to 120 years. Then it can take approximately 5 to 10 years for it to regenerate to the point of being a reliable food source again. Depending on the species it is. There are many different types of bamboo in China about 300 species, but the panda will only eat about 10 to 15 different varieties. Some of the types of bamboo are (Fargesia robusta)-umbrella bamboo, (Arundinaria spp.)-ringal bamboo, (Gelidocalamus fangianus)-arrow bamboo, and (Fargesia nitida)-sword bamboo.

The panda may look clumsy or clownish, but it is very agile. They can move through the dense thick bamboo forest with ease. Pandas can stand on their stout hind legs. They can even climb trees. Pandas have a distinctive way of walking that differentiates them from bears. They are pigeon toed! This is why they look to amble along when they walk. The most distinctive thing about the panda is, of course, its distinctive coloring. Beautiful big eyes surrounded by black patches, the rounded black ears sitting high on its head against its thick white fur. Black legs and forelegs with a band of black fur extending across the chest and meeting at the shoulders. The panda's fur is thick, dense and slightly oily to help protect it from the weather of its mountainous habitat. Pandas are solitary animals. Traveling alone and only occasionally having contact with other pandas during mating season. A full grown panda can weigh up to 300 pounds. Measuring between 5 and 6 foot long from nose to tail. Male pandas usually weigh 10 to 20 percent more than female pandas. The life span of a panda in the wild varies, no one knows exactly how long pandas live in the wild. Pandas in captivity have lived to be 25 years old.

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