About animals|The Giant Panda
(black-and-white cat-foot) (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), is a mammal
classified in the bear family, Ursidae, native to central-western and
southwestern China. Giant Pandas are one of the rarest mammals in the
world. Pandas are easily recognized by their large, distinctive black
patches around the eyes, over the ears and across their round body.
Giant
pandas live in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan,
Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Pandas once lived in lowland areas,
however, farming, forest clearing and other development now restrict
giant pandas to the mountains.
The
mist shrouded mountain forests of China, have slowly disappeared over
the last century. Many of the bamboo areas which are vital for the
Pandas diet and survival are being cut down by people who then build
farms there. The Giant Panda is an endangered species. According to the
latest report, China has 239 giant pandas in captivity (128 of them in
Wolong and 67 in Chengdu) and another 27 pandas living outside the
country. It also estimated that around 1,590 pandas are living in the
wild.
Giant Panda Characteristics
The
Giant Panda has a black-and-white coat. Adult pandas measure around
1.5 metres long and around 75 centimetres tall at the shoulder. Males
are 10 - 20% larger than females. Male pandas can weigh up to 115
kilograms (253 pounds). Female pandas are generally smaller than males
and can occasionally weigh up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds).
The
giant panda has a body typical of bears. Pandas have black fur on
their ears, eye patches, muzzles, legs and shoulders. The rest of the
pandas coat is white. The pandas thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in the
cool forests of its habitat.
Giant
pandas have large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles for crushing
tough bamboo. Many people find these cuddly looking bears to be
lovable, however, giant pandas can be as dangerous as any other bear.
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Pandas
have the largest molars out of all the carnivorous mammals. The
forepaws of the panda have an extra 'thumb' called an 'opposable pseudo
thumb' which is used in conjunction with its 'forefingers' and
enables the panda to grasp even small bamboo shoots with precision.
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After the sloth
bear, the panda has the longest tail in the bear family measuring 4 - 6
inches long. Giant Pandas can usually live to be 20 - 30 years old in
captivity.
Giant Panda Diet
Although
Pandas mostly eat bamboo, they are still classed as a carnivore.
Pandas have a digestive system of a carnivore, however, they have
adapted to a vegetarian diet through their large consumption of bamboo.
A Pandas digestive system cannot digest the cellulose in bamboo, that
is why they have to eat so much and for long periods of the day.
The
average Giant Panda eats as much as 20 to 30 pounds of bamboo shoots a
day. Because pandas consume a diet low in nutrition, it is important
that they keep their digestive tract full. Pandas may eat other
foods such as honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges and
bananas.
Pandas do not hibernate as they are not able to store enough fat to feed them through the winter on their diet of bamboo.
Giant Panda Behaviour
Pandas
are good at climbing trees and they can swim as well. Pandas are
difficult to see out in the wild as they live among the thick dense
bamboo plants in old-growth forests which is their favourite habitat.
Pandas are very solitary creatures and will live alone and will only
meet other pandas during mating season.
Giant
panda bears are silent creatures most of the time, however, they can
bleat. Pandas do not roar like other bears, however, they do have 11
different calls, four of which are only used during mating.
The
Giant Panda is active at twilight and during the night. Throughout the
day, it will make dens in caves, hollow trees and dense thickets. To
avoid competition with other pandas over food and to signal its
presence, the Panda will mark its territory by putting a pungent
secretion from its anal glands on stones and tree trunks.
The
male Giant Pandas home range may overlap with several female
territories and when breeding season arrives during the springtime, he
will attempt to mate with these local females.
The
female Pandas usually announce their readiness to breed by becoming
more vocal and leaving special scent marks around to enable the males
to track them. The females give birth to their cubs in the Autumn and
these stay as constant companions for the next 18 months or more.
Pandas
signify aggression by lowering their heads and staring at their
opponents. To signal submissiveness, a panda will put its head between
its front legs and often hide its eye-patches with its paws. This
position is also adopted by females during mating, and by captive
animals that are being harassed by humans. At close range, aggression
is signaled by a swipe with a paw, or by a low-pitched growl or bark
that will send an opponent scampering up the nearest tree.
Giant Panda Reproduction
Giant
Pandas have a very slow reproductive rate which sadly contributes
towards their decline in numbers. Giant Pandas mate during the
springtime. The female panda's gestation time varies between 112 days
and 163 days. After this time, she will give birth to one single cub.
On rare occasions, she will produce 2 - 3 cubs, but usually only one
will survive.
The female panda can only conceive during a 72 hour estrus period which only happens during the spring breeding period.
Because
of this limited time for the female to become pregnant, some mating
pairs will often copulate for several hours, whereas other mating pairs
will only copulate once. Male pandas are more sexually active for
longer and will attempt to mate with several female pandas during this
time. The mating pairs will show no interest in each other at any other
time of the year.
The female
panda gives birth in the Autumn. Panda cubs are very small, weighing
between 3.5 and 6 ounces. They have little fur, are pinkish white in
colour, blind and very helpless. No other mammal gives birth to such a
small baby except marsupials like the kangaroo who keeps her babies in
her pouch until they are fully developed. A panda mother will carry her
cub around in her arms and care for its every whim constantly. Panda
cubs cry just like human babies when they need feeding or need care
from their mother. They will cry for milk about every 2 hours or so.
Between feeding times, the mother panda will continuously hold her cub
very gently.
This attentive
behaviour will continue until the cub is able to move around by itself
when the cub is about 3 months old. At this age, the cub will continue
to follow its mother around and by 6 months the cub can begin eating
bamboo. They are finally weaned off their mothers at around 9 months
old. The weaning of the cubs in the spring following their births is an
ideal time as the newest most protein-filled bamboo shoots are
available. This gives cubs the best possible start in life on a diet
that in the best of conditions is of poor nutritional quality. At
about a year old, the cubs can weigh 75 pounds, which is about a third
of an adult pandas weight.
Female
pandas do not reach sexual maturity until they are 5 to 6 years old.
However, even young, inexperienced female pandas display a maternal
instinct and know instantly how to care for the young without needing
any practice. This is very important because no breeding season is then
wasted through 'clumsy parenting'. Because female pandas start to
breed quite late and only rear a single young cub every 2 years, she
will only rear in total around 7 offspring in her lifetime. By the age
of 22, a female panda is considered 'old' and possibly
'post-reproductive'. The giant pandas low reproductive rate makes it
very difficult for a giant panda population to recover from a decline
in numbers.
With many
conservation programs in place today, the Panda is desperately trying
to be saved from extinction. It would be one of the greatest tragedies
within the animal kingdom if this great bear was wiped out completely.
Giant Panda Conservation Status
Probably
the most major threat to the survival of the Giant Panda Bear is the
destruction of their natural habitats, along with increased human
population and poaching. The different varieties of bamboo go through
periodic die-offs as part of their renewal cycle. Without the ability
to move to new areas which have not been affected, starvation and
death will certainly occur for the giant panda. Such die-offs of the
bamboo also put the giant pandas in more direct contact with farmers
and poachers as the bears try to find new areas in which to feed.
The
recent announcement that the Chinese government will nearly double
protected areas for giant pandas in the Qinling mountain range by
creating five new panda reserves and five 'corridors' (linking
protected regions) is expected to have a major benefit on the future
of the panda. Many organizations are continuously supporting and trying
to find ways to save and preserve the existence of this special,
adorable bear.