67 Facts About Pandas

1. Pandas, also known as giant pandas, are native to south-central China.
2. They belong to the family Ursidae, which includes other bears like grizzlies and polar bears.
3. The scientific name for the giant panda is Ailuropoda melanoleuca.
4. They are one of the most adored and protected species in the world, often serving as symbols for wildlife conservation.
5. Pandas are famous for their black and white fur – the black fur covers their ears, eye patches, legs, and shoulders.
6. They are one of the few bear species that do not hibernate.
7. Pandas spend most of their day eating bamboo. They can eat up to 20-30 pounds of bamboo each day.
8. Despite their almost exclusive vegetarian diet, pandas are technically carnivores. In the wild, they will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat if available.
9. They have strong jaw muscles and large molar teeth to crush the tough bamboo.
10. A newborn panda is about the size of a stick of butter—about 1/900th the size of its mother.
11. Cubs are born blind and only open their eyes six to eight weeks after birth.
12. Female pandas give birth to one or two cubs every two years. Twins are common, but usually, only one survives in the wild.
13. Pandas have a life span of around 20 years in the wild, and over 30 years in captivity.
14. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the giant panda as a “vulnerable” species in 2016, which was an improvement from its previous “endangered” status.
15. In Chinese culture, the panda is a symbol of peace and harmony.
16. Pandas have an extra bone in their wrist called the ‘pseudo thumb’, which helps them to hold bamboo while eating.
17. The giant panda’s genome was sequenced in 2009, providing vital information for conservation efforts.
18. The estimated total population of wild pandas is around 1,864.
19. They are solitary animals, marking their territory by rubbing an oily substance from their glands onto trees and rocks.
20. While pandas are generally silent, they can bark, growl, huff, and make other noises when annoyed or threatened.
21. Baby pandas do not have the characteristic black and white markings at birth. These appear a few weeks after birth.
22. Despite their size, pandas are excellent climbers and swimmers.
23. Adult pandas can reach lengths of 1.2 to 1.9 meters (4 to 6 feet) and weigh up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds).
24. Pandas spend about 10-16 hours a day feeding, mainly on bamboo.
25. Their eyes have vertical slits, similar to cats, enhancing their ability to see clearly in the dim light of their forest homes.
26. When on all fours, a panda’s height is about 60-90 cm (24-35 in).
27. The front paws of a panda are extremely flexible and can rotate inward, which enables them to grab bamboo stems.
28. Pandas are able to reproduce at 4 to 6 years of age, and their mating season is usually in the spring, between March and May.
29. Females are fertile for only 2-3 days per year.
30. The gestation period for pandas varies but is usually between 95 and 160 days.
31. In captivity, pandas can become much older than in the wild, with the oldest recorded panda, Jia Jia, reaching the age of 38 before her death in a Hong Kong theme park.
32. Pandas have been a symbol of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) since its inception in 1961.
33. The first panda to live in captivity was named Su Lin, which was captured in 1936 and lived in the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
34. Panda fossils have been found in Myanmar, Vietnam, and eastern China and date back to at least 4 million years ago.
35. The Qinling panda, a subspecies, has a light brown and white pattern instead of the usual black and white.
36. Pandas do not roar like other bears, but they do make a series of calls including honks, huffs, barks, and growls.
37. Pandas reach sexual maturity at 5.5 to 6.5 years for females and 7 years for males.
38. Although pandas like to live alone, they do use a shared network of paths and trees to communicate through scent marking.
39. The red panda, despite its name, is not a close relative of the giant panda. It belongs to a different family and is more closely related to raccoons.
40. Female pandas raise cubs on their own; the male leaves after mating and is not involved in raising the offspring.
41. Giant pandas have one of the highest bite forces of any carnivore, in proportion to its size.
42. Pandas in captivity often give birth to twins, and unlike in the wild, both offspring are usually reared.
43. A baby panda’s fur is pinkish and turns gray after a week. After about a month, the gray fur turns into the distinctive black and white coloration.
44. Despite their appearance, pandas are capable of running at speeds up to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h).
45. Baby pandas start to crawl at about 10 weeks of age.
46. Panda fur is worth up to $100,000 on the illegal trade market.
47. The size of the panda population in captivity worldwide is over 600.
48. Pandas rely less on visual memory than spatial memory for locating a mate’s home range and preferred patches of bamboo.
49. When pandas are between 4 and 8 months old, they start to move away from their mothers and establish their own territory.
50. The average panda can defecate up to 40 times a day.
51. Although adult pandas are generally sedentary, they can cover a lot of ground and have been known to travel up to 12 miles (20 kilometers) in a single day.
52. Pandas were once hunted for their soft and warm fur. Hunting is now strictly prohibited, and poaching carries severe penalties.
53. Ancient Chinese emperors kept pandas to ward off evil spirits and natural disasters.
54. Panda bears do not have specific resting spots and simply fall asleep wherever they happen to be.
55. Pandas have been kept in zoos since as early as the Western Han Dynasty in China, over 2,000 years ago.
56. Today, pandas in zoos around the world are on loan from China. The cost of a ‘panda lease’ is about $1 million per year.
57. The first live giant panda to be seen in the United States was in 1936 when one was brought to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
58. Pandas have five fingers and an additional “thumb,” which is actually a modified wrist bone.
59. Young pandas stay with their mothers for as long as three years, which means that a wild panda may raise only three or four cubs in a lifetime.
60. Pandas have been depicted in Chinese art dating back thousands of years.
61. The digestive system of the giant panda is more similar to that of a carnivorous mammal than a herbivore, despite its diet being largely vegetarian.
62. Pandas have one of the shortest breeding seasons, with females only able to conceive for two or three days a year.
63. A panda’s throat has a special lining to protect it from bamboo splinters.
64. When they are born, baby pandas are about 1/900th the size of their mother, one of the smallest newborn mammals relative to its mother’s size.
65. Giant pandas were unknown to the West until 1869, when a French missionary named Armand David received a panda skin from a hunter.
66. Each panda has unique markings, allowing researchers to identify individuals.
67. Adult pandas are so large that they do not have many natural enemies. Their primary threats are habitat loss and extremely low birth rates.

Originally posted 2023-09-12 20:33:01.

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