The giant panda also known as the panda bear or simply the panda, is a bear native to South Central China.
It is characterised by large, 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 red panda.
Giant pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other 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.
Giant Panda Facts
Panda belongs to the family of bears.
Pandas have lived on Earth for two to three million years.
Pandas are native to south-central China.
Panda is a symbol of peace in China.
The typical panda grows from 1.2 m to 1.9 m.
Due to their large size, pandas don’t have natural enemies.
The average lifespan of a wild giant panda is 15-20 years.
In captivity, the average lifespan of a panda is 30 years.
The world’s oldest panda lived up to 38 years.
Pandas typically weigh from 70 kg to 100 kg.
Their skin is black under the black fur and pink under the white fur.
An estimated 1800 pandas still roam the wild.
There are 400 are kept in captivity.
On all fours, a giant panda stands about 3 feet.
Males are about 10% larger than females.
China owns all the pandas in the world.
Pandas can survive on a bamboo diet alone.
Pandas eat up to 38kg of bamboo each day
Pandas especially like to eat umbrella, arrow, and golden bamboo.
A giant panda can peel and eat a bamboo shoot in about 40 seconds.
Giant pandas have evolved a unique “thumb” which they use to hold bamboo stalks.
Panda spends 14-16 hours per day eating.
Pandas teeth are seven times bigger than humans.
Giant pandas have 42 teeth.
When it is born, panda cub weighs only 5 ounces.
The mother is 900 times heavier than the cub and it can crush the cub accidentally.
Panda is the symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The tail of a panda measures anywhere between 4 and 6 inches.
These animals are solitary by nature.
Females ovulate only during the spring, every year.
During ovulation, there is a period of 2 to 3 days during which females can conceive.
Very rarely females give birth to two young.
Females can safely conceive every two years.
The gestation period for giant pandas varies from 97-163 days.
Baby pandas stick to their mothers for a period of 1.5 to 3 years.
A panda cub is born hairless and blind.
Pandas are territorial animals.
A giant panda usually has a territory of about 5 square kilometers.
Panda researchers have counted 11 different panda calls.
Four of them are used only when searching for a mate.
Pandas don’t hibernate like other bears.
