Scientific Name:
Ailuropoda Melanoleuca
Common Name:
Panda Bears
Appearance:
Giant Pandas are bears that are easy to spot, have huge black spots around their eyes, over the ears, their legs and across their backs.
Where are they found (Habitat):
These bears are found in the wild in China. They are also found in the zoos of other countries. It wasn’t until 1869 that the United Stated of America and Europe found out about these amazing bears.
Height and Weight :
Can grow to about 2-3 feet tall and weighs up to 100 kilograms.
Lifespan: Wild pandas live about 20 years and zoo pandas for about 30 years but that is not where they are meant to be.
Types of Panda:
1. Giant Panda
2. Two types of Red Panda
3. Qinling Panda (found in the Qinling mountains of
China)
What they eat (Diet):
It might be surprising for you, but 99% of a Pandas’ diet consists only of bamboo. Pandas can eat a surprisingly large number of other foods like wild grass, eggs, birds, oranges and many other things while they are in captivity but they just prefer bamboo.
Offspring:
Pandas are mammals. (Mammals are animals that give birth directly to their offsprings.). The younger pandas are called cubs and the mother alone will raise them while the father panda just goes on and does his own thing.
How much do pandas sleep: Pandas sleep only about 10 hours like a kid. They are so busy collecting bamboo and eating it, which can take up a lot of time.
Why were pandas endangered:
In 1970, there were only about 1000 pandas on Earth, but thanks to the Government of China and animal organisations that there are about 1800 pandas in 2020. Now the Giant Panda is promoted to threatened or vulnerable species.
1.Pandas were once endangered for their habitat was shrinking. They are solitary animals. But the loss of their habitat pushed them closer together, stressing and frustrating them.
2.Loss of food: Humans cut down bamboo forests for farming and making room for buildings, so pandas had a hard time finding bamboo.
3.Hunting and poaching: Pandas were hunted for their special fur and poached to be sold as pets.
4.Hard time having babies: Pandas have a hard time having babies, because they can have only one to three cubs at a time and only one of these babies grow up to be an adult because bamboo is very low in nutrients.
Interesting but sad fact: A group of pandas are called an embarrassment of pandas. How mean is that? There is absolutely nothing embarrassing about a group of pandas. But I guess it’s better than being called a murder of crows or an unkindness of ravens.
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