Giant Panda
Physical Description
Giant panda belongs to carnivore ailuropodidae. The panda has thick, wooly coat which keeps it warm in the cool forests. Panda has large molar teeth and also strong jaw muscles for crushing tough bamboo. An adult panda weighs about 90 kg and about 150 cm long, although the biggest one ever weighed was 180 kg. The males are larger than the females.
Characteristics
A lot of people find pandas very cute, adorable and friendly but dont forget that these chunky, lumbering animals can be as dangerous as any other bear. Pandas are terrestrial animals in the wild, they spend thier lives roaming and feeding in the bamboo forests. These climbers take shelter in hollow trees or rock crevices but they do not establish permanent dens. Panda usually likes to be alone and each adult has a defined territory, the female pandas are not tolerant of other females in their range.
Habitat
Pandas mainly inhabit in the forest of mountainous areas that is 800 – 3000m above sea level, with bamboo culm, bamboo shoots and leaves as their main food. The habitat of the giant panda once included most southern and northern areas of China, but now is distributed only in Qionglaishan Mountain, Minshan Mountain, Xiaoxiangling Mountain Range and Daxiangling Mountain Range in Sichuan Province, Minshan Mountain in the south of Gansu Province and Qinling Mountain Range in Shaanxi Province. Since its ancestor appeared 2-3 million years ago in the early pluvial period, it is also known as a living fossil. Being one of the most popular animals on earth, these animals are also listed as endangered species. About 1000 giant pandas exist at present.
Diet
The average giant panda can eat as much as 20 – 30 pounds (9 – 14 kg) of bamboo shoots a day. It is important for pandas to keep their digestive tract full since they consume a diet low in nutrition. Although pandas are primarily herbivorous, they still retain decidedly ursine teeth and will eat fish, eggs and meat when available.
Reproduce
Pandas reach sexual maturity when they are at the ages of 4 to 8, and may be reproductive until age of 20. The mating season takes place between March and May. The female panda usually gives birth to one or two panda cubs. When first born, the baby pandas are pink, blind, furless, very small and helpless, therefore they need the mother’s undivided attention. The mother normally cares for only one of her cubs and abandons the other and let it dies soon after that. The father has no part in helping raise the cub. The baby nurses from its mother’s breast 6 – 14 times a day for about half an hour at a time. The mother may leave the den for three to four hours to feed and leaves the panda cub defenseless. The cub will be able to eat small quantities of bamboo after six months.
Giant Panda and Red Panda
The giant panda possesses a retractable “thumb”, and extension of wrist bone thatt allows it to grab its main food source (bamboo) and has a body closely resembling that of a bear. This mix of characteristics lead to confusion as to whether panda is more related to the raccoon or the bear.
Its cousin, the red panda, has pointed ears and a long tail but with a much smaller body, gaining this animal another Chinese name which directIy translates to “fire fox”. The main part of its body, especially the limbs and torso are very closely resemble that of the giant panda in coloration and structure. Normally red pandas are categorized into two types, distinguished by the coloring of their coats.
The giant panda and the red panda, although completely different in appearance, they share several similar features. Two of them live on a similar bamboo diet, they two live in the same habitat and both of them also have pseudo thumb (a unique enlarged bone) which allows them to grip the bamboo shoots they eat.