FAST FACTS
- 1,864 wild giant pandas were counted during a 2014 survey
- An adult panda can weigh about 100-150kg and grow up to 150cm long
- Pandas feed for up to 14 hours a day and can eat up to 38kg of bamboo
- When born, a panda cub is just 1/900th the size of its mother
- Pandas are good swimmers and excellent tree climbers
- Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats
The giant panda is perhaps the most powerful symbol in the world when it comes to species conservation.
Adored around the world, the distinctive black and white animal is a national treasure in China and has been the symbol of WWF since its formation in 1961.
While its numbers are slowly increasing, the giant panda remains one of the rarest and most endangered bears in the world.
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, literally "black and white cat-foot";
Chinese: 大熊猫; pinyin: dà xióng māo, literally "big bear cat"),also known as panda bear or simply panda, is a bear native to south central China.It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda's diet is majorly bamboo.In the wild, they occasionally eat grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.
Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ailuropoda
Species: A. melanoleuca
Binomial name
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
David, 1869
Subspecies
A. m. melanoleuca
A. m. qinlingensis
Mapa distribuicao Ailuropoda melanoleuca.png
Home Of The Panda
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan, but also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu.As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
The giant panda is a conservation reliant vulnerable species. A 2007 report showed 239 pandas lived in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.As of December 2014, 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China,in 18 zoos in 13 different countries.Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated this figure to be as high as 2,000 to 3,000. Some reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise. In March 2015, Mongabay stated that the wild giant panda population had increased by 268, or 16.8%, to 1,864.In 2016, the IUCN reclassified the species from "endangered" to "vulnerable".
Source: Wikipedia