Panda

Panda

Identity & Taxonomy

Binomial Name: Ailuropoda melanoleuca
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ailuropoda
Species: A. melanoleuca

Panda

Pandas are famous for their black and white markings. The legs, shoulders, ears and oval patches around the eyes are black, and the rest of the coat is white. Good tree climbers, pandas can also swim to escape predators. Pandas use an enlarged wrist bone that looks like a thumb to grasp objects like bamboo.

The giant panda lives in mountainous regions, such as Sichuan and Tibet. Since the latter half of the 20th century, the panda has become an informal national emblem for China, and its image is found on many Chinese gold coins. Despite being taxonomically a carnivore, the panda has a diet that is overwhelmingly herbivorous. The giant panda eats shoots and leaves, living almost entirely on bamboo. Pandas are also known to eat eggs, the occasional fish, and some insects along with their bamboo diet. These are necessary sources of protein. Like other subtropical mammals, the giant panda does not hibernate.

The Giant Panda

At a glance, Panda:

• STATUS: Endangered.
• SIZE: Pandas weigh an average of 200 to 300 pounds and reach six feet in length.
• POPULATION: Only 1,000 pandas exist in the wild and 60 in zoos.
• LIFESPAN: The panda’s lifespan in the wild is unknown but in captivity averages more than 20 years.
• RANGE: The shrinking range of the panda is limited to parts of Szechuan, Shensi and Kansu provinces in central and western China.
• FOOD: Pandas feed mostly on bamboo, a tall woody plant full of fiber. The panda’s digestive system does not absorb the fiber, so it must eat a lot. Pandas also eat flowers, vines, tufted grasses, green corn, honey and rodents.
• HABITAT: The panda lives in thick bamboo and coniferous forests (evergreens with seed cones) at 8,500 to 11,500 feet elevation.
• BEHAVIOR: These solitary animals spend most of their days feeding. Although they live in cold forests, pandas do not hibernate. They move to lower elevations during winter to keep warm and to higher elevations in summer to stay cool. They do not have permanent homes but sleep at the bottom of trees and under stumps and rock ledges.