Giant Panda
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus and Species: Ailuropoda melanoleuca
Giant pandas are black-and-white bears that live in temperate bamboo forests in China. Among the best recognized—but rarest—animals in the world, they have come to symbolize endangered species and conservation efforts.
Physical Description: Giant pandas' ears, eye patches, muzzles, legs, and shoulders are black. The rest of the animals' coats are white. Giant pandas have large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles for crushing tough bamboo. Many people find these chunky, lumbering animals to be cute, but when threatened, giant pandas can be as dangerous as any other bear.
Size: Giant pandas stand between two and three feet tall at the shoulder (on all four legs), and reach four to six feet long. Males are larger than females, weighing up to 250 pounds in the wild. Females rarely reach 220 pounds.
Geographic Distribution: Giant pandas live in a few mountain ranges in central and western China, mainly in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces.
Status: The giant panda is listed as endangered in the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals. There are about 1,000 left in the wild, and about 130 in zoos and breeding centers.
Habitat: Giant pandas live in bamboo forests at elevations between 3,600 and 10,500 feet. They once lived in lowland areas, but farming, forest clearing, and other development now restrict giant pandas to the mountains.
Natural Diet: Wild giant pandas feed almost entirely on bamboo. Sometimes, wild giant pandas also eat bulbs, grasses other than bamboo, and small animals.
Zoo Diet: Keepers fed Tien Tien and Mei Xiang bamboo, rice gruel, carrots, apples, and sweet potatoes.
Reproduction: Male and female giant pandas mate only in the spring. During that time, females are interested in mating for only two or three days. Calls and scent marking draw males and females to each other. Female giant pandas give birth between 95 and 160 days after mating. Although females may give birth to two young, only one usually survives. Giant panda cubs may stay with their mothers for up to two years before striking out on their own. Giant pandas' slow breeding rate is a major reason why their populations cannot quickly recover from hunting and other causes of mortality.
Life Span: Scientists aren't sure how long wild giant pandas live, but Chinese scientists have reported zoo pandas as old as 35. The National Zoo's Hsing-Hsing died at age 28 in 1999.
Behavior: Millions of National Zoo visitors enjoyed watching Hsing-Hsing eat. Like other giant pandas, he usually fed while sitting upright, in a pose that resembles how humans sit on the floor. This posture left his front paws free to hold bamboo stems while he chewed. Like Hsing-Hsing, wild pandas spend much of their days resting, feeding, and seeking food. Some scientists speculate that giant pandas' bold black and white coloring may help the animals blend with their shade-dappled snowy and rocky surroundings.
Until recently, scientists thought giant pandas spent most of their lives alone, with males and females meeting only during the breeding season. Recent studies paint a different picture, in which small groups of pandas share a large territory and sometimes meet outside the breeding season. Much remains to be learned about the secret lives of these elusive animals, and every new discovery helps scientists in their battle to save this species.
A Few Giant Panda Neighbors:
Red panda (Ailurus fulgens): A reddish, raccoon-sized tree-climber once thought to be a giant panda relative. While scientists now believe giant pandas are bears, they are unsure of red pandas' closest relatives. Red pandas can be seen at the Zoo, where more than 100 have been born since 1972.
Takin (Budorcas taxicolor): A large, shaggy goat-like animal.
Golden monkey (Pygathrix roxellana): A long-haired monkey that lives in large groups.
Tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus): A small chocolate-brown deer with white ear tufts.
Golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus): A dazzling bird with a red belly, yellow head, and a long tail.
Fun Facts:
The National Zoo's first pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were a gift from China, and arrived at the National Zoo in 1972.
Except for marsupials (kangaroos, possums, and their kin), giant panda babies are the smallest mammal newborns, relative to the size of the mother. Giant pandas are born blind and weigh four to six ounces—lighter than an apple! Baby giant pandas grow slowly, reaching adult weight by two to four years of age. Adult giant pandas eat up to 40 pounds of food each day and zoo pandas can weigh up to 350 pounds.
Giant pandas grip long bamboo stems with their claws and a long wrist bone that acts like a thumb.
By Howard Youth
ZooGoer 28(2) 1999.
Copyright 1999 Friends of the National Zoo.
All rights reserved.
