giant panda

The giant panda has lived on the earth for at least 8 million years and is a first-level protected animal in China. At the end of 2016, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) downgraded the giant panda's threat level from "endangered" to "vulnerable" . However, due to its low fertility rate, it is rated as an endangered species in the China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals and is a national treasure of China. Giant pandas are also known as living fossils in the biological world.

Giant Panda Breeding

The estrus period of adult giant pandas is very short, especially if they are raised in captivity. The estrus period of female pandas is only a few days a year. They are separated after mating, and the young are raised by the female alone. The gestation period of giant pandas lasts from 83 to 200 days, and babies are usually born around August. The birth nest is usually a hidden tree hole or natural rock cave. Giant pandas often give birth in large fir tree holes. They give birth to one child at a time, sometimes two, and their physical appearance does not change significantly during pregnancy. Giant panda cubs born are only one or two in weight and are pink in color. Their appearance is very different from that of adult pandas. Since pandas feed on bamboo, they need to eat for a long time every day to ensure the supply of calories. During the cub-nurturing period, the mother panda also has to leave her cubs for 2-4 hours to look for food.

Adult giant pandas go into heat and mate in spring (March-May), and males need to fight to compete for the females in heat. Adult females give birth once every 2-3 years, usually in mid-to-late summer (August to early October), giving birth in carefully selected tree holes, rock caves or rock crevices. Most of the litter is 1, occasionally 2. In the wild, if two pandas are born, the female panda will give up one of them and only nurse one. In the first 2-4 days after the cub is born, the female panda will hold the cub in her arms and never leave the cave. From then until the cub is 2 weeks old, the mother panda will periodically leave the cave to defecate and forage nearby. Giant panda cubs will stay in the cave until they are 3-4 months old, but if they are disturbed or the cave is wet or flooded by rain, the mother panda will move to different caves with the cub. Giant pandas reach sexual maturity at about 4.5 years old. Unlike other bears that live in temperate and cold zones, giant pandas do not hibernate in winter.

Giant panda food

Pandas, like other bears, are omnivores and are in the transition stage from carnivores to herbivores. The main food is bamboo and carrots. Wild pandas will eat grass, wild fruits, insects, bamboo rats, and sheep. Because a gene in giant pandas is inactivated, pandas are unable to feel the delicious taste of meat. But their digestive system is still that of a carnivore, so they can only rely on intestinal bacteria to break down bamboo leaves. Their feeding habits are specialized, and almost 100% of them feed on bamboo, but there are many types of bamboo that they can feed on. Giant pandas need to spend 12-14 hours eating every day and consume 10-15kg of bamboo, so they will leave a large number of obvious feces and feeding traces in their activity areas. In the wild, giant pandas will occasionally feed on the remains of dead wild animals (scavenging).

Giant Panda Behavior

Giant pandas spend half of their time eating every day, and most of the remaining half of their time is spent sleeping. In the wild, giant pandas sleep for 2-4 hours between every two meals. Lying flat, on their sides, prone, stretched or curled up are their preferred sleeping methods. Giant pandas are good at climbing trees and love to play. It is also very flexible in action. Giant pandas mark their territories with scent by smearing secretions from their perianal glands on tree stumps, the ground, and places they frequently pass.

Giant Panda’s Living Habits

Giant pandas, especially young ones, occasionally climb trees to rest or avoid predators. During the mating season, adults, mainly females, will also climb up trees to watch and wait for their males to fight with each other for mating rights. Except for mother-child interactions, adult giant pandas are solitary animals, and individuals generally communicate with each other through scent markings. Giant pandas scent mark by spraying urine or smearing perianal gland secretions on tree trunks. Giant pandas like to live alone, and each giant panda has a separate activity area. Except for the estrus period, they often lead a solitary life, traveling both day and night. The nest area is variable from 3.9 to 6.4km2. There is overlap in nest areas between individuals. The male's nest area is slightly larger than that of the female. Females only move within a nuclear area of 30-40 hectares most of the time, and the nest areas between females do not overlap.

The giant panda is a large bear with a sturdy body, with a head and body length of 120-180cm and a tail length of 8-16cm. Adult males are larger than females, with males weighing 85-125kg and females weighing 70-100kg. The fur color is distinct black and white, and the head is large and round. Compared with other bear species, the snout is shorter and blunt. The limbs, shoulders, ears and eye circles of the giant panda are black, and the rest of the body is white. In the Qinling area of Shaanxi Province, there are rare brown giant pandas: compared with the ordinary black and white type, the black part of the brown giant panda's body turns into light brown or brown. The body color of juvenile giant pandas and sub-adults is similar to that of adults, but their bodies are rounder.

Giant pandas are mainly distributed in temperate mountain forest habitats with dense understory arrow bamboos at altitudes between 1200-3200m. The giant panda is endemic to China. Fossil records show that it was widely distributed in South China, East China, Central China, Southwest China, and as far north as central North China. It is now distributed in 6 mountain systems (Qinling, Minshan, Qionglaishan, Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling, and Liangshan) in 3 provinces in southwest China (Shaanxi, Gansu, and Sichuan). The distribution area is highly fragmented. In 2015, a hunted wild giant panda was found in the area south of the Jinsha River in northeastern Yunnan. It is speculated that it is a sporadic spreading individual. Further in-depth investigation is needed to clarify the distribution status of this species in this area. Along with the phenological changes of bamboo at different altitudes, giant pandas have seasonal vertical migration. The activity range of a single individual is 4-2