Giant Mammal
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Cityville: Attack of the Giant Mammal Part 1
Where to See Giant Pandas in China
Panda's Life Style and Habits
The giant panda is a type of bear. The Chinese call it the ‘big bear-cat' (大熊猫 da xiongmao /dah-sshyong-maow/). Grown pandas are about 75 centimeters (2.5 foot) tall and 1.5 meters (5 foot) long (see the diagram showing a man and a giant panda below). They weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb). Females are smaller, weighing up to 125 kg (275 lb).
Giant pandas have a distinctive appearance. Their thick black and white fur equips them for life in cool forests. Their white coat with black markings is unique, with black patches round the eyes and ears, black legs and a black band around the shoulders.Giant pandas' paws have five "fingers" and one "thumb" – an enlarged bone at the heel of the paw used for gripping bamboo, climbing, etc.
Giant pandas' round body shape helps them keep warm despite their low-calory bamboo diet. Their round faces hold big jaw muscles and molars for crushing bamboo. They have good geographical memory, hearing and sense of smell, but their sight is poor.
Habitat of Giant Panda
The giant panda's habitat is on the mountainous edge of the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau, Central-West and Southwest China. Giant pandas mainly live Sichuan, with a few populations in Shaanxi and Gansu. Before extensive farming and deforestation in China, the giant panda lived in many lowland areas of China's interior. See Giant Panda Maps.
Giant pandas live in rainy, mountainous bamboo forests 1,200 to 3,100 meters (4,000 to 10,000 feet) above sea level. An adult pair need about 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of bamboo to sustain them.
Giant panda habitat has been reduced by developing China's logging and farming practices, until logging was banned by the government in 1998. Now over 50 nature reserves, covering over 1,000,000 hectares (2,600,000 acres), protect some of the remaining wild panda populations. However, the separation of habitat areas due to development means that pandas sometimes starve if the bamboo in their area has a bad year.
Protecting the panda's habitat concurrently preserves whole ecosystems from destruction and preserves the quality of water near the source of China's largest and most important river system – the Yangtze. Ecotourism in these reserves provides a livelihood for locals in poor mountain areas, while giving tourists a chance to see wild pandas in a controlled manner that leaves minimal impact on the environment.
Giant Pandas' Food
A giant panda's diet is 99% bamboo, 13 kg (30 lb) or more a day - that is an estimated 3,500 bamboo stalks a day!
The giant panda has the digestive system of a carnivore, but has chosen to live almost exclusively like a vegetarian. Bamboo doesn't provide much energy, so giant pandas have to keep eating for up to 12 hours a day.
Giant pandas also sometimes eat small amounts of fish, honey, eggs, leaves, fruit and root vegetables. They eat small mammals and birds if they can catch them!
Where to See Giant Pandas in China
Increasingly used as the emblem of China, the cuddly and lovable giant panda lives nowhere else in the world outside captivity. The best place in the world to see giant pandas (seeing them in the wild is difficult and costly, but can also be arranged – contact us for a free quotation) is at the Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu.
Alongside the Great Wall, the Terracotta Army, the Li River, etc., China's giant pandas are becoming a must see attraction of China. The panda is the logo for the WWF and is known as a national treasure in China. They have received excellent reviews from our previous customers. See the testimonials on our giant panda pages.
There are also giant pandas in zoos in various places around China: Beijing Zoo, Shanghai Zoo, and Seven Star Park Zoo, Guilin.
There are actually two species of giant panda: the typical giant panda, with its black and white coat, and the Qinling panda, with a dark brown and light brown coat, which only lives in the mountains of Shaanxi.
There is also another species of panda called the red panda, which is much smaller than the giant panda, and has reddish-brown fur.
Click Giant Pandas to Read More about life of Giant Panda.
Click Giant Panda Tours to see the real Giant Pandas in China.
About the Author
Top China Travel Destinations are Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Yangtze River Cruise and Tibet.
