Giant pandas are bears that are native to China, where they are considered a national

treasure. Even with this exalted status, giant pandas are endangered: only about 1,600
live in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
About 100 live in zoos around the world.

Size & description

Also called great pandas, parti-colored bears, bamboo bears and white bears, giant
pandas are distinguished from other pandas by their large size and black-and-white
coloring. The bold coloring may provide camouflage, according to the Smithsonian
National Zoo.
Giant pandas live up to their name. They are 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) tall and
weigh up to 300 lbs. (136 kilograms), according to the National Geographic, about the
same as an American black bear. By comparison, their distant relatives, red pandas, are
only 20 to 26 inches (50 to 65 cm) tall and weigh 12 to 20 lbs. (5.4 to 9 kg).

Habitat
In the wild, giant pandas are only found in the remote, mountainous regions of central
China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, according to the National Zoo. In this
area, there are cool, wet bamboo forests that are perfect for the giant panda's needs.
Giant pandas make their dens from hollowed-out logs or stumps of conifer trees found
within the forest.

Diet
A giant panda's appetite for bamboo is insatiable. They eat bamboo 12 hours a day.
That adds up to 28 lbs. (12.5 kg) of bamboo each day, according to National
Geographic. But one reason they eat so much is that bamboo is low in nutrients,
according to the San Diego Zoo. Giant pandas also eat rodents, fish, insects and birds.
Eating both vegetation and meat makes these pandas omnivores.
The giant panda's stomach is ideal for digesting bamboo. The walls of the stomach are
extra-muscular to digest the wood of the bamboo. The stomach is also covered inside
with mucus that prevents it from being punctured by splinters.

Habits
Giant pandas are loners. They dislike being around other pandas so much that they
have a heightened sense of smell that lets them know when another panda is nearby so
it can be avoided, according to the National Geographic. If another giant panda does
get close, the two will end up swatting and growling at each other. Sometimes they will
even bite each other.
On average, a giant panda's territory is about 1.9 square miles (5 square kilometers). To
mark their territory, giant pandas secrete a waxy scent marker that they rub on their
territory. Other giant pandas can tell the sex, age, reproductive condition, social status
and more from the scent marker, according to the San Diego Zoo.
The only time that these pandas seek each other out is during mating season. Males
will use their smelling ability to find a female when they are ready to mate.

Offspring
Giant pandas mate in the spring. After mating, the female will be pregnant for 100 to
180 days. Then, she will give birth to one or two cubs. Cubs weigh only 3 to 5 ounces
(85 to 142 grams) when they are born, according to the San Diego Zoo and are
completely blind at birth.
At 18 months, the cub is weaned and sent to live on its own. By the time the females
are four to five years old and the males are six to seven years old, the cubs are fully
mature. [Gallery: Baby Panda Pics]

Classification/taxonomy
Giant pandas are indeed bears. For many years, scientists had wondered whether
pandas were a type of bear, raccoon or something else. However, studies of panda
DNA have confirmed the panda's relationship with bears, according to the San Diego
Zoo.
The taxonomy of giant pandas, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information
System (ITIS), is:

Kingdom: Animalia

Subkingdom: Bilateria

Infrakingdom: Deuterostomia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Infraphylum: Gnathostomata

Superclass: Tetrapoda

Class: Mammalia

Subclass: Theria

Infraclass: Eutheria

Order: Carnivora

Suborder: Caniformia

Family: Ursidae

Genus & species: Ailuropoda melanoleuca

Conservation status
The IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species categorizes giant pandas as endangered.
This is an improvement. In the 1980s, giant pandas were listed as rare by the IUCN. As
of 2008, when the most recent assessment was made, there was "little doubt" that there
were less than 2,500 mature giant pandas in the wild. A survey in 2002 indicated a total
population of about 1,600 individuals. National Geographic estimates that 100 giant
pandas live in zoos.
Steps are being taken to save them, though. There are 50 panda reserves in China that
protect around 45 percent of the giant panda's habitat, according to the World Wildlife
Fund.

Other facts
Giant pandas have a special bone that extends from their wrists called a pseudothumb, according to the San Diego Zoo. They use the pseudo-thumb to hold and
manipulate bamboo.
Giant pandas will climb 13,000 feet (3,962 m) up the mountains of their home area to
feed on higher slopes in the summer, according to the National Geographic.
Male pandas, like many other mammals (but not humans) have a baculum, a bony rod
in the soft tissue of the penis. In most bears, it is straight and directed forward.
However, in giant pandas, it is S-shaped and directed backward, according to
the Animal Diversity Web.