subject: Endangered Giant Panda [print this page] Endangered Giant Panda Endangered Giant Panda
The Giant Panda is a bear that is found in mountainous regions, mainly central western and south western parts of China. It is most distinctly recognized by the big, black patches around its eyes, all over its ears and shoulders and around its body. Unlike other carnivorous (meat-eaters), pandas are herbivorous, so their diet consists 99% of bamboo, although it also includes honey, eggs, oranges, bananas, shrub leafs, fish. However, Giant Pandas still have a digestive system found in carnivores, and they have genes that are only found in carnivores. That is why they get little energy and protein from eating bamboo, and thus have to spend up to 12 hours a day chewing bamboo shoots and roots. Small amounts of energy affect the pandas behavior, that is why they try to avoid contact with other members of their species, and tiresome physical activity like climbing steep slopes.
As mentioned, the Giant Panda has black and white fur. It is still unclear why, but is assumed it provides excellent camouflage in the snowy and rocky surroundings where the live. It also keeps it warm in the cold altitudes of the mountains. The adults can grow up to1.5m in length, males being slightly bigger than females, as well as being heavier, weighing up to 150 kilograms. They have a "thumb", which is actually a sesamoid bone used to hold bamboo while eating, and five fingers. They have strong jaw muscles, which give the a distinctive feature of having a round face, and large molar teeth (used for grinding food) which helps them eat their favorite food, the bamboo. Its tail grows to about 10 to 15 centimeters, which makes it the second longest in the bear family. They can live up to 25-30 years in captivity, while it is unknown how long can they live in the wild due to the complexity of studying them in the wild.
Giant Pandas usually live alone, marking their territory by clawing trees or spraying urine. They only come into contact during the mating season, after which the males leaves the mother to take care of the cub alone. Females are especially territorial, not very tolerant of other females in their area. It is a terrestrial animal, which means it lives and spends most of its time on the ground, although it can climb trees and rocks to seek refuge from predators. It does not however, have a permanent home, den, meaning that it does not hibernate, but changes it location when the climate alters.
The Giant Panda is an endangered species, classified as rare. The greatest threat to them is the loss of its habitat, due to legal, but often illegal, forest clearings, land transformations into farm areas. In the past, they lived in the lowlands, but in recent history moved to higher grounds, because of their shy nature and fear. The number of pandas is very small in the world, and the numbers of wild pandas vary from 1500 to 3000 members, and about 250 of them living in captivity, all this numbers increasing in recent times thanks to efforts to preserve them. The second biggest problem is that its fur is highly valuable, and poaching was a severe problem in the past, which reduced only thanks to education and the enforcement of laws against hunting these animals. Giant pandas have trouble surviving nowadays often because of the die-off of bamboo, their primary source of food. In the past, they could just move to an area with healthy bamboo, but this is not possible anymore due to the destruction of areas with this plants. All this problems have vastly reduced their numbers, but in recent years there were many improvements of saving the Giant Pandas, although there are people who disagree that the money spent on them is worth it.
