Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Carnivora > Ursidae > Ailuropoda > Ailuropoda melanoleuca| | Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Giant Panda) | |
The panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, "black and white cat-foot"), also known as the giant panda to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda, is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo. |
The giant panda is enormously charismatic, and is usually the 'main attraction' in zoos and other institutions where captive individuals are held. Sadly, this striking species has suffered greatly in the wild due to human encroachment onto its disappearing habitat. Pandas feed almost exclusively on bamboo, and need to eat vast quantities to meet their energy requirements. Despite extensive protective measures, pandas are being forced into smaller and increasingly isolated pockets of habitat where there is often insufficient bamboo to support the declining populations. Only a few thousand giant pandas survive in the wild. Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) Unique (100) Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) Unique & Vulnerable (100) |
| Adult Weight [1] | 259.04 lbs (117.50 kg) | | Birth Weight [1] | 110 grams |  | | Female Maturity [1] | 6 years 1 month | | Male Maturity [1] | 6 years 1 month | | | Diet [2] | Herbivore | | Gestation [1] | 48 days | | Litter Size [1] | 2 | | Litters / Year [1] | 1 | | Maximum Longevity [1] | 37 years | | Nocturnal [2] | Yes | | Weaning [1] | 6 months 2 days |
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Wolong Nature Reserve |
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826140 |
Sichuan, China |
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San Diego Zoo's Pandacam
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Species recognized by Wozencraft W.C., 15-Aug-2007, ITIS Global: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System in  Endangered Status provided by IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2 < www.iucnredlist.org> Downloaded on 11 April 2013. Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774 ♦ 2Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org ♦ 3The Giant Pandas of the Qinling Mountains, China: a Case Study in Designing Conservation Landscapes for Elevational Migrants, COLBY J. LOUCKS, LÜ ZHI, ERIC DINERSTEIN, WANG DAJUN, FU DALI,
AND WANG HAO, Conservation Biology, Pages 558565 Volume 17, No. 2, April 2003 ♦ 4Clonal regeneration of an arrow bamboo, Fargesia qinlingensis, following giant panda herbivory, Wei Wang, Scott B. Franklin, John R. Ouellette, Plant Ecol (2007) 192:97106 ♦ 5Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London ♦ 6International Flea DatabaseEcoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 gis.wwfus.org/wildfinderRange map provided by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), Conservation International & NatureServe. |
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