Giant pandas live solitary lives in remote, mountainous bamboo forests in central China and eat bamboo for most of the day. They are considered an ambassador species for conservation due to their endangered status, with only around 1,000 remaining in the wild. Pandas have black fur on their ears, legs, shoulders and face and use their wrists like thumbs to grasp bamboo despite having a digestive system adapted to a carnivore diet.

1. BY GROUP
of 9D

2.  BASIC FACTS ABOUT PANDAS
 Looked upon as the ambassador for all endangered species, the giant panda is a
well-recognized symbol of international wildlife conservation. Giant pandas
have black fur on their ears, around their eyes (eye patches), muzzle, legs and
shoulders. Good tree climbers, pandas can also swim to escape predators.
Pandas use an enlarged wrist bone that looks like a thumb to grasp objects like
bamboo.

3.  Wild pandas live only in remote, mountainous regions in central China. These high
bamboo forests are cool and wet—just as pandas like it. They may climb as high as
13,000 feet (3,962 meters) to feed on higher slopes in the summer season.
 The giant panda has an insatiable appetite for bamboo. A typical animal eats half the
day—a full 12 out of every 24 hours—and relieves itself dozens of times a day. It takes
28 pounds (12.5 kilograms) of bamboo to satisfy a giant panda's daily dietary needs,
and it hungrily plucks the stalks with elongated wrist bones that function rather like
thumbs. Pandas will sometimes eat birds or rodents as well.
 Pandas are often seen eating in a relaxed sitting posture, with their hind legs
stretched out before them. They may appear sedentary, but they are skilled treeclimbers and efficient swimmers.
 Giant pandas are solitary. They have a highly developed sense of smell that males use
to avoid each other and to find females for mating in the spring. After a five-month
pregnancy, females give birth to a cub or two, though they cannot care for both twins

4. • DIET
• Pandas eat bamboo. Since giant pandas have the digestive system of a
carnivore, they do not have the ability to digest cellulose (plant matter)
efficiently and thus derive little energy and little protein from consumption
of bamboo.
• So, the average giant panda has to eat as much as 20 to 45 lbs (9-20 kg) of
bamboo shoots a day. On occasion, giant pandas are also known to eat
flowers, vines, tufted grasses, green corn, honey and rodents
 BEHAVIOR

Giant pandas are found mostly in thick bamboo and coniferous forests
(evergreens with seed cones) at 8,500 to 11,500 feet in elevation. They are
generally solitary animals that spend most of their days feeding.
 However, they do communicate with each other once in a while through
scent markings, calls and occasional meetings.
 Unlike other bears, giant pandas do not hibernate. In the winter, they move
to lower elevations to keep warm, while traveling to higher elevations in the
summer to stay cool. They can be active at any time of the day or night.
 Pandas do not have permanent homes but sleep at the bottom of trees under
stumps and rock ledges.

5.  RANGE
 Historically pandas lived in both mountainous and lowland regions of centralwestern and southwestern China. They are now found only in the mountains of
central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.
 POPULATION
 Today, an estimated 2,000 pandas are found in the wild. By the end of 2006,
there were a reported 180 pandas in captivity on mainland China and about 20
in other countries.
 There are only about 1,000 giant pandas left in the wild. Perhaps 100 pandas live
in zoos, where they are always among the most popular attractions. Much of
what we know about pandas comes from study of these zoo animals, because
their wild cousins are so rare and elusive.
 FAST FACTS
 Type : Mammal Diet: Omnivore Average life span in the wild:20 yearsSize:4
to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5 m)Weight:300 lbs (136 kg)Protection status : Endangered
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man: