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Panda Facts
* Weight: 165-353 pounds
* Body Length: 4-5 feet
* Tail: 5 inches
* Males are slightly larger than females. They have stronger forelegs,
wider muzzles and are 10-20% heavier.
* They have stout, powerful limbs. Their hind feet lack a heel pad
* They have scent glands positioned under the tail
* Their head is relatively massive with well-developed chewing muscles.
Unlike other bears they have well-developed premolars. Their molars are
broad and flat and adapted to chewing bamboo.
* Their digestive system is typical of a carnivore; only slightly adapted
for processing bamboo: tough esophageal lining, pyloric region of stomach
thick and muscular, small intestine shortened, colon surface area enlarged.
* Vision is poor. Their pupils have a vertical slit like many nocturnal
animals.
* Sense of smell is very good.
* Coat is thick and wooly. It is white with black eye patches, ears,
legs, band across shoulders and sometimes tip of tail. Fur is slightly
oily preventing water penetration.
* Their striking coloration is thought to be an important signal to
other pandas (They avoid contact and have poor vision). Brown-and-white
pandas exist but are extremely rare.
* The panda is omnivorous. While bamboo represents 99% of their diet
they have also been known to eat fish, pikas, rodents, vines, irises, crocus,
mushrooms and rice grass.
* The panda assumes a sitting position to eat. Their unique forepaws
have an enlarged wristbone that they can flex like a thumb. This allows
them to direct bamboo stalks to their mouths where they strip off bites
with their incisor teeth.
* Pandas digest about 20% of what they eat. (Cattle, for example, digest
60% of their intake) To compensate for their low quality diet pandas select
only the most nutritious parts of the bamboo, they eat rapidly and they
eat a lot.
* About 12 hours each da
y
are spent feeding and they consume 12-15% of their body weight each day.
During this time they consume between 23 and 36 pounds of bamboo shoots
and leaves. They have been known to consume as much as 84 pounds of "new"
bamboo shoots at one sitting.
* 25 species of bamboo are eaten by pandas in the wild. Captive pandas
will eat only 9 of these.
* Only a few bamboo species are widespread at the high altitudes pandas
now inhabit: Fargesia spathacea, Sinarundinaria chungii, Sinarundinaria
nitida, and Sinarundinaria fangiana. Bamboo leaves contain the highest
protein levels, stems have less.
* Because of the synchronous flowering, death and regeneration of all
bamboo species, pandas must have a least 2 different species available
in their range to avoid starvation.
* Throughout most of the year pandas have a water imbalance because
their feces eliminate more water than the food brings in. They usually
drink at least once each day.
* The giant panda is a single species, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, related
to bears.
* The giant panda is found exclusively in China where it inhabits mountain
forests that are dense with bamboo and conifers. They thrive in altitudes
of 5,000 to 10,000 feet and are accustomed to torrential rains and dense
mist throughout the year.
* These black-and-white bears eat primarily bamboo, up to 40 pounds
per day. They also have been known to eat other plants and flowers as well
as hunt for fish, pikas and other small rodents.Pandas can spend up to
16 hours a day feeding.
* Pandas are solitary animals. Males and females come together only
for a short time during breeding season. Females are receptive to males
for only a few days every year.
* Normally, a single cub is raised each year. The giant panda gestation
period is 3- to 5-months. Cubs are often weaned at about nine months but
may remain with their mother for up to 18 months.
* Pandas are sexually mature at about 6 years of age and they have
a captive life expectancy of 20-30 years. Their vocal repertoire consists
of bleats, honks, squeals, growls, moans and barks.
* The giant panda is classified as rare by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). It is protected
under appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). There are thought to be about 1,000 individuals in the
wild.
* There are about 110 pandas in captivity, with the majority in China.
The giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo three of five bears in the United
States. Zoo Atlanta has a pair. There are four pandas at the Chapultepec
Zoo in Mexico City. There are also captive giant pandas in Japan, Spain,
Germany and South Korea.
* Total world sales of panda toys have been estimated at over 3 million per year.
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