The panda has some characteristics common to bears, but other characteristics are not like bears.

For example, their head is larger than a bear's, their skull and dental structure do not resemble a bear's, their hind feet lack a heel pad, they do not hibernate, and they do not walk on their hind legs like bears. Some physical characteristics of the panda closely resemble the raccoon: the male genitalia of both the raccoon and the panda are small and pointed to the rear.

 Giant Pandas live in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shanxi, and Gansu provinces, They once lived in lowland areas, but farming , forest clearing, and other development now restrict Giant Panda to the mountains. The Giant Panda first appeared in the evolutionary record during the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene, some two to three million years ago. Panda fossils have been found in Burma, Vietnam, and particularly in eastern China, as far north as Beijing, Pandas were once widespread in Southern and eastern China and in neighbouring Myanmar and North Vietnam. Today, however, there are only around 1,000 left. All of these are found in one geographic region---the bamboo forests of southwestern China. The Giant Panda only exists at present in six small areas located in inland China. The habitat, suitable for the bamboo on which it survives, is cold, damp coniferous, The elevation ranges from 1,200 to 3,400 metres (4,000 to 11,000 feet) high. In most of the areas in which they still roam wild, they must compete with farmers who farm the river valleys and the lower slopes of the mountains.

 The most serious threat to the panda is loss of habitat. Already confined to small remote areas in the mountains of China, much of their natural lowland habitat has been destroyed by farmers, development and forest clearing, forcing them further upland and reducing and fragmenting their habitat. This fragmentation of habitat is detrimental to the pandas ability to find food. Because they can consume up to 45 pounds of bamboo in a day, it is sometimes necessary for pandas to travel to a new location once the bamboo supply of an area is depleted. However, the fragmentation of their range by humans can make finding new food difficult. Any climate changes that alter the natural range of bamboo species will make these remaining islands of habitat even more precarious.

 The drought in central China's Hubei Province has forced the Wuhan City zoo to find alternate sources of fresh bamboo for 22-year-old Qing Qing, the 'heroic mother' of 13 panda cubs. Because of the dry weather, the zoo's own 7,000-sq-m bamboo grove has not been able to keep pace with Qing Qing's appetite. "Qing Qing eats about 50 kg of bamboo leaves and stalks a day and seldom touches other foods such as eggs or milk," said zoo keeper Gu Zhiqiang.