Roaming in a few isolated Sichuan basin mountain ranges in southwest China including the Gansu and Shaanxi provinces along the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, the Ailuropoda melanoleuca (literal translation: "black and white cat-footed") or giant panda is also referred to in Chinese as da xiongmao or "large bear-cat".
These strikingly handsome creatures have been around for 600,000 years, dating as far back as the Pleistocene Era and according to fossil evidence, they used to cover territory as far south as Vietnam and Myanmar. Today, there are just 290 pandas living in captivity and an estimated 1,600 TOTAL living in China's mountains.
Although they DO sleep between 8 and 12 hours daily, pandas do not hibernate - they don't have enough body fat to do so. Instead, they take to lower altitudes when temperatures drop and conversely climb back up to higher altitudes when the mercury rises.
The giant panda - China's symbol of peace -- has been the poster child for endangered species everywhere...in fact it was officially added to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species Act in 1984. The London Zoo's sole panda resident Chi Chi was the inspiration the World Wildlife Fund's perennial logo, officially launched back in 1961.
Newborns begin life completely blind and covered with fine white fur, weighing in at just 3.7 ounces. Their distinctive markings emerge around their 10th day of life, their eyes open at between 1 ½ to 2 months and by 25 days, a panda's coat takes on its fully recognizable appearance. Once they reach four months of age, they are able to walk and they ultimately spend the next 2+ years with their mother.
The World Wildlife Fund says that perpetually low birth rates and high infant death rates have made panda reproduction efforts (while in captivity) very challenging and not yet sustainable. Between the ages of 4 - 10 years, they are finally able to procreate and yet females are only fertile once each year in the springtime. With a gestation period of between 97 and 163 days, pregnant bears give birth an average of every 2 - 3 years to a maximum of two cubs, one of which generally survives.
Completely mature pandas average 225 pounds in weight -- a full 10 - 20% heavier than their female counterparts at 193 pounds - and measure from 4 - 6 feet long. While certain pandas held in captivity have been known to reach the ripe old age of 35, their average lifespan in zoos and refuges is 30, while in the wild, they generally reach approximately 20 years of age. The oldest known panda was Wuhan Zoo's 37 year old female resident, named Dudu, who suffered from epilepsy in 1999.
Subsisting on a largely herbivore diet of bamboo stems, leaves and shoots, their bodies aren't naturally designed to process fibrous cellulosic plant material -- in fact, they actually possess carnivore-friendly digestive systems (which apparently accommodate the occasional rodent that they are known to eat). For this very reason, they tend to consume an average of 28 pounds of bamboo each day, which amounts to 10,000+ pounds annually. They also augment their diets (when necessary) with other plants such as crocuses, irises and gentians.
The panda's number one predator continues to be man rather than snow leopards (which tend to prey on panda cubs) or bamboo rats (which destroy their main food source by consuming the root structure, ultimately felling trees). Human beings have long been responsible for overdeveloping the bears' conventional habitat in favor of creating agricultural regions and cities, depleting their natural stomping grounds of its natural resources and taking out dense coniferous and broadleaf forests which offer them 99% of their main food source (in the form of bamboo).
In the past, even though poachers found guilty of killing giant pandas could receive the death penalty, many acknowledge still being willing to taking their chances since the financial reward for a pelt was more than their potential lifetime earnings. The Criminal Law of China was finally revised in 1997, dictating that the maximum penalty for panda poaching be no more than 10 years.
16 panda cubs posing with their keepers at Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province, Southwest China, taken February 2010.
Anita Quincy
said on February 12, 2010