The Giant Panda: the Cute & Adorable Animal

Let us talk today about a very cute animal. We generally call them The Panda. They are also known as The Giant Panda or the Panda Bears. This article will focus on some of the interesting panda facts and information.

 Interesting Panda Facts

Pandas belong to the order Carnivora, underclass Mammalia. They are the rarest of the bear family.

• Read More About Classification Of Mammals

They are around 3 ft tall and weighs around 90 to 140 kgs. A newborn cub weighs less than 5 ozs. A panda cub is one-nine-hundredth the size of its mother. This is the second smallest ratio after the kangaroos (the newborn were the size of a jelly bean).

Where Do Pandas Live?

In the wild pandas are only found in central China. As their diet depends solely on a bamboo diet, a cool and wet bamboo forest is ideal for their living. The pandas are the symbol of peace in China and are considered to be a national treasure.

What Do Pandas Eat?

Unlike other members of the order Carnivora, 99% of a panda’s diet is bamboo. They spend. A mature Panda eats on an average 30 lbs of bamboo in a day and most of their days time is spent on eating bamboo. In the springtime, it can reach up to 100 lbs.

A Giant Panda can absorb only 25-30% of the nutrient of a bamboo. The major portion of the food eaten by the panda is not digested. The panda can defecate up to 40 times a day.

The Cute Panda Face:

The cute round face of the giant panda is a result of their strong chick muscle. It starts from the head till the jaws. It is so strong that a panda can easily bite through a thick bamboo stalk that humans find tough to cut with an axe.

Pandas have plantigrade feet i.e, entire palm (toe and heel) touches the ground like us while walking unlike horse and cattle (where only the toes touch the ground).

The giant panda has 42 teeth.

If you are thinking about keeping one of them as your pet, consider this: Keeping a single panda in a zoo is very very expensive. It cost more than 5 times the rearing cost of an Elephant (the next most expensive).

• Read More Interesting Facts About An Elephant

Unlike other bears living in a temperate climate, the pandas do not hibernate.

Pandas have developed a unique thumb (which is a modified wrist bone) which is helpful in holding the bamboo stalks.

The female panda ovulates only once in a year and they are fertile only for 3 days of a year.

In 1987 the law passed by the China government ensures life sentenced or even death for the crime of killing a panda. In present, the law is revised and made 10 to 20 years imprisonment.

The Giant pandas are the symbol of WWF (World Wildlife Fund) for nature.

As per the IUCN red list, the panda is an endangered species. Just over 1000 pandas are left in the world. The threats are basically from loss of habitat and poaching.

Hope you liked the article and able to know some of the facts which were unknown to you.

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