|
Panda
Panda is a unique animal originated
from China. They look like bears, but bigger and have
black-and-white colors. Panda or giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
is large mammal with big head, heavy body, rounded ears and a short
tail. Chinese people call panda "Da xiong mao," which means "giant
cat bear" in Chinese, because panda's eyes have vertical pupils,
just like cats. The panda is a symbol of peace in China.
Sadly, these cuddly-looking animals are
on the verge of extinction nowadays.
 Female pandas are called sows, males are called boars, and the young
are called cubs. Pandas have very good eyesight. Giant pandas are
white with black patches around the eyes, ears, shoulders, chest,
legs, and feet. This black-and-white coloring may camouflage (hide)
the panda in the snowy, rocky environment.
The
largest pandas grow to be about 250 pounds (115 kg). They are about
5.25 to 6 feet (1.6 to 1.8 m) long. The average adult male panda
grows to be about 3 feet (1 m) tall at the shoulder and weighs about
220 pounds (100 kg). The average adult female panda grows to be
about 2.5 feet (80 cm) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 180
pounds (80 kg). The panda's tail is about 6 inches (16 cm) long.
Pandas have the most specialized diet of any of the bears. Their
diet is almost exclusively two species of bamboo (arrow and umbrella
bamboo). Pandas eat about 40 pounds (18 kg) of food each day. Bamboo
is very low in nutrition. Even though the panda eats this plant, it
cannot digest it very well and most of the bamboo passes undigested
through the digestive tract. It has to eat for up to 12 hours every
day in order to get enough nourishment. Its throat and stomach have
extra-tough linings to protect them from the tough food.
Other problems with a bamboo diet is that these bamboo plants only
grow in a few places. This limits the range of pandas tremendously.
Bamboo species go through periodic die-offs after they flower. Most
plants in an area die-off at the same time (after flowering). When
this happened in the past, pandas would migrate to another area
where the bamboo was still flourishing. With the greatly reduced
bamboo forests of today, this option is not always available. This
leads to periodic starvations among giant panda populations.
In captivity (zoos and breeding centers), pandas eat bamboo, rice
cereal, carrots, apples, and sweet potatoes. Pandas usually eat
while sitting in an upright position. Sitting this way, they can use
their front paws to hold their food. Panda front paws are very
unusual. These paws have five clawed fingers plus an extra bone that
works like an opposable thumb. This "thumb" is not really a finger
(like our thumb is). It is really an extra-long wrist bone that
works like a thumb. Panda uses these dextrous paws to grasp its food
(bamboo shoots and leaves).
Since pandas spend most of their time eating tough, nutrition-poor
bamboo, strong teeth and jaws are very important to a panda's
survival. Giant pandas have large molars (flat teeth used for
crushing food). They also have a few sharp teeth which they use to
bite tough bamboo stalks. Pandas have 42 teeth. They also have
strong jaw muscles which they use for chewing tough bamboo.
Pandas have very thick, oily, woolly fur that keeps them warm in
their cold, wet mountain habitat. Their fur is made of two types of
hairs; there are long, thick, coarse hairs and a shorter, fine,
dense underfur. This fur is waterproof.
However, giant pandas do not hibernate
since their food is available all year long. Also, the bamboo they
eat is not high enough in nourishment to fatten them up for the
winter. During the cold winter months, giant pandas go to lower
altitudes where it is a bit warmer; they also take shelter in hollow
trees or dens. They don't seem to have permanent dens.
In the wild, giant pandas only live in a few mountain ranges in
central and western China, mainly in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu
provinces. Because of habitat destruction, the pandas now live in a
series of broken ranges. This has created six isolated populations
that do not interbreed.
The natural habitat of the giant panda is cool, wet, cloudy mountain
forest land where bamboo grows. Giant pandas are found in mixed
deciduous/evergreen temperate forests, between 3,000 and 10,500 feet
(900-3,200 m) in altitude (below the timberline). Pandas used to
also live at lower altitudes, but farming and land development have
pushed the pandas high into the mountains.
Giant pandas are endangered species and their numbers are dwindling
very quickly as their habitat is destroyed. There are roughly
1,000-1,500 pandas living in the wild (in China). There are about
120 living in zoos and breeding centers around the world. This
species is extremely vulnerable to extinction because of humans.
Giant pandas are mostly shy, solitary animals. They live most of
their lives alone. A small group of pandas may share a large feeding
territory, usually only meeting to breed. Scientists don't know very
much about the lives of these animals. Giant panda bears are mostly
silent, but they can bleat! They don't roar like other bears, but
they do have 11 different calls, four of which are only used during
mating.
The giant panda's life span in the wild has not been accurately
documented, but Chinese scientists report that some pandas in zoos
have lived to be 35 years old. Pandas have a very slow reproductive
rate which contributes to their declining numbers. Male and female
giant pandas mate in the spring, attracting each other with calls
and odors. Females give birth between 95 and 160 days after mating.
They have their cubs in dens that they dig in the ground. One or two
cubs are born but usually only one survives.
Panda cubs are small, white, blind,
furless, and helpless at birth. Except for marsupials (kangaroos,
opossums, etc.), giant panda cubs are the smallest newborn mammals.
They weigh four to six ounces (85-140 g) as newborns. This is
lighter than an apple.
Like newborn human babies, panda cubs cry when they are hungry or
need care from their mother. Their coats take on adult coloring
about a month after birth. Cubs' eyes open at six to seven weeks.
They will follow their mother at about three months after birth.
They start eating bamboo at about 6 months old and are weaned from
their mother at about 9 months. Panda cubs grow very slowly. They
stay with their mother for one to two years. They are fully grown in
2-4 years.
~
Back to Chinese
Land ~
~ Back to Our Home
~
Page created: Feb 14, 2004
Last updated: Feb 14, 2004
|