The Giant Panda

The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) - big bear cat.

Giant Pandas are mammals and members of the bear family.The Giant Panda is native to China and an endangered species much loved by the Chinese people and the rest of the world. The exact number of Pandas living in the wild is unknown but believed to be about 2,000. There are 239 Giant Pandas in captivity in China and 27 in captivity in other places around the world.

DESCRIPTION

What do pandas look like?

Giant Pandas are black and white bears. They have black patches around the eyes, have black ears, arms and legs. They grow to a height of about 1.5m and weigh about 115kg. They also have a tail. Males are bigger than females. Pandas have very strong jaws with big molar teeth which they use to crush the bamboo that they eat. Pandas have paws with five fingers and a thumb. It's not really a thumb but an extension of the wrist bone. Pandas live up to 20 years in captivity. They look very cute, but they can be as dangerous as other bears when provoked.

BEHAVIOUR

In the wild, Pandas roam and feed in the high altitude bamboo forests of Sichuan Province and the Qinling Mountains. Each adult has a defined territory and can be quite solitary. Pandas communicate vocally and by scent marking. They can climb quite well and can take shelter in trees and rock crevices. Permanent dens are not established as Pandas will move to a warmer altitude in winter as they don't hibernate.

DIET

The Giant Panda is classified as a carnivore but eats bamboo almost exclusively so has the diet of a herbivore. They need to eat lots of bamboo (about 9 to 14 kilos per day) as the get very little nutrition from it. At lower altitudes there are about 25 species of bamboo that the Panda can eat, but at higher altitudes where the Pandas have been forced to retreat to there are less varieties available. Pandas will also eat meat, fish and eggs if these are available.

In summer and autumn, Pandas eat lots of leafy Bamboo, in spring lots of young shoots, but in winter it's only the tough stems on offer.
In captivity, Pandas are spoilt in the food offerings. They have a more varied diet. They still eat lots of bamboo, but they are also offered sugar cane, carrots, apples, sweet potatoes and panda bread. Panda bread is made from ground bamboo with grains and special vitamin supplements.

BREEDING

Pandas become sexually mature between 4 and 8 years old.
They are difficult to breed in captivity, and even in the wild where there may be only 1 birth every two years. Pandas mate once per year. Gestation lasts 4 to 5 months. The mother gives birth to one or two cubs. They are very small at birth weighing only 90 to 130 gms. They are completely helpless and need lots of tender loving care. In the wild, if two cubs are born, the mother takes care of one only and abandons the other, which dies soon after birth. The father plays no role in raising the cub.
When twins are born in captivity, the keepers care for both of them, so does the mother but she only cares for one at a time. The twins are kept in incubators and fed milk.

The panda cub is born pink, blind and has no fur and feeds frequently from the mother. Dark patches appear on the skin, this is where the black fur will grow. A month after birth the cub is covered in soft fur which becomes more coarse as the cub gets older. At about 3 to 4 months old the cub begins to crawl. The cub feeds on mothers milk for the 1st year, but does eat some bamboo from about 6 months old. The cub will stay with mum for about 2 years.

QINLING PANDA

The Qinling Panda is found in the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province. The Panda lives in high altitudes of 1300 to 3000m. This Panda has dark and light brown colouring and is smaller than the black and white pandas.

PANDA HISTORY

The dragon is China's national emblem, but the panda must be a close second. The panda is a great favourite with the Chinese and is featured on many Chinese commemorative coins.

The west found out about pandas in 1869. A French missionary was given a panda skin by a hunter. Hugo Weigold was the first westener to see a panda. The German zoologist bought a panda cub in 1916.

Foreigners first shot a panda in the 1920's. In 1936 a Giant Panda cub was sent to a zoo in Chicago.
China now loans pandas to foreign zoos. The first loans were the beginning of cultural exchanges between China and the West.

CONSERVATION

Pandas have become endangered because of hunting in years gone and more recently the loss of habitat, also the low birth rate doesn't help.

Pandas have been poached since ancient times, by locals and later by foreigners. Habitat has been destroyed by the clearing of the forests to harvest the bamboo. Early attempts at conservation by caging the Pandas were not very successful. In the 1990's laws were changed to protect the panda.

Residents were moved out of Panda reserves and gun control was introduced.

With increased effort and better conservation methods the numbers are steadily increasing, although the panda is still classified as rare.
There are about 40 Panda reserves in China up from 13 reserves 20 years ago. The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary covers 7 reserves and has been made a World Heritage Site. (This is the location of the recent earthquake in China)

WHERE TO SEE THE GIANT PANDA

CHINA

Chengdu Research Base - Chengdu, Sichuan Province
China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda - Sichuan Province
Beijing Zoo - Beijing

HONG KONG

Ocean Park

THAILAND

Chiang Mai Zoo

JAPAN

Oji Zoo - Kobe
Adventure World - Wakayama
(The only Panda with Japanese citizenship was Ling Ling (died April 30th 2008) at Veno Zoo - Tokyo

AUSTRALIA

Adelaide Zoo is awaiting the arrival of two Pandas.
Wangwang (m) and Funi (f) arriving in 2009.

Visit Adelaide Zoo