Giant Panda Fact File

Ailuropoda melanoleuca

Credit: Copyright. The Animal Facts.

Weight

70-125kg

(155-275lbs)

Length

1.5m

(5ft)

Lifespan

Wild 20 years

Captive 30 years

Diet

Omnivore

Bamboo, Grass, Insect

Conservation Status

IUCN

Vulnerable

The giant panda has become one of the world's global conservation icons. They have been the subject of ongoing conservation efforts and in 2016 their IUCN status was downgraded from endangered to vulnerable.

One of their best know features is that they feed almost exclusively on bamboo despite being adapted to feed on meat. Fruits, carrion and bulbs make up the rest of their diet.

They are found exclusively in China where they will live in conifer forests.

Females produce a single pup or potentially twins. When twins are born the female will typically choose the strongest to raise.

Read on to learn more about these marvellous mammals.

Appearance

What does the giant panda look like?

The giant panda is colored black and white. Across the majority of their body is white fur. On the limbs, across the shoulders, the ears and in a circle around the eyes the fur is black. The nose is also black in color.

Scientists have hypothesized a number of reasons for this coloration. Some of these reasons include that their colors make it easier for them to find each other in the wild. Another idea is that these contrasting colors provide camouflage when they are high in the treetops.

The coat is thick and woolly an adaptation that helps to keep them warm.

Like the other bear species giant pandas have a large head and a long muzzle. This assists them being able to smell incredibly well.

On the hand they have an extension of the wrist which is much like a thumb. This assists them in holding the bamboo that forms most of their diet. This is called the ‘opposable pseudo thumb.’ The jaw is large and strong so they can crunch through the bamboo.

Their tail is very short at 10.6-15.24cm (4-6in) but is actually the second longest tail of any bear.

From the head to the base of the tail giant pandas measure 1.5m (5ft) long. At the shoulder they stand 70-80cm (27-32in) tall. Females are slightly smaller than males weighing 70-100kg (155-220lb) while males weigh 86-125kg (190-275lb).

Diet

What does the giant panda eat?


Giant Pandas are omnivores. They feed almost exclusively on bamboo. This makes up 99% of their diet. They can feed on 30 species of bamboo. Pandas will spend up to 12 hours a day eating bamboo as it is so low in nutrition. This means they need lots of it as much of it just passes through them. This occurs as their body is designed to digest meat and cannot sufficiently remove the nutrients from bamboo. During their day they can consume up to 30kg (66lbs) of bamboo. Throughout the year they will change what part of the bamboo they eat as the nutritional content changes throughout the year.

Grasses, bulbs, fruits, insects and even carrion will form the other 1% of their diet. They are opportunistic hunters that eat most foods that they can come across.

Pandas get a large amount of their water needs from the bamboo. Bamboo is 50% water and some of it can be 90% water. This may provide some of their water but they still need to go to rivers and streams to get the rest of their water.

Giant Panda

Credit: Copyright. The Animal Facts.

Range

Where can you find the giant panda?

Giant pandas are found in Asia. The only country in which they occur is China. Here they live in six small fragments of forest.

Most of their homes used to be in the lowlands of the Yangtze River basin. As humans have increased their presence in this area they have moved further up into the mountains.

Habitat

What kind of environment does the giant panda live in?

They inhabit conifer forests with a good understory of bamboo. It is important that these are old growth forests. These have hollow logs and tree stumps which pandas can den in.

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Reproduction

How does the giant panda produce its young?

Pandas live a solitary lifestyle and come together when it is time to mate. When the female is coming in to oestrus she will leave scent marks to alert the male to this. He will then seek her out so they can mate. He must find her quickly as the female is only able to mate for 3 days a year in the spring. This window is between March and May.

Once the male finds the female he will stick near to her anticipating the start of this 3 days. He will regularly smell her to see if he she is ready to mate and make groans and bleats to make her become attracted to him. Once she is ready they mate a number of times in an attempt to ensure she becomes pregnant. After this the male leaves to find another female that he can mate with.

If she is successful a panda cub will be born 95-160 days after they mate. In some rare instances twins or triplets are born. These can’t survive in most cases as the female can only take one out when she needs to leave the den on her back.  When compared with the size of the mother, pandas have the smallest mammal baby that is not carried in a pouch. The blind, helpless pup measures about 15cm (5.9in) long and weighs only 100g (3.5oz).

When the baby is not suckling it is carried in one of her paws. The mother will not eat or drink for several days after the birth. The eyes of the cub open after 50 to 60 days.

At 10 weeks of age the cub begins to crawl and at 14 weeks old the mother and cub begin to leave the den together. It is also at this time that its teeth begin to come through. When making their outings the baby will ride on the mothers back. This continues until they are 6 months old when they can begin to walk. Up until 7-9 months of age it is exists solely on milk. At this time they begin to taste bamboo. It will drink milk and eat bamboo up until 18 months of age when it moves solely to solid foods.

After 18 months the mother looks to send the baby off on its own. It may remain with her for up to 3 years though. Once they leave they establish their own territory.

The females will not begin breeding till they are 5 or 6 years old. Giant pandas stop breeding around 22 years of age. In this time they may only have 5 cubs. This low reproductive ability is part of the reason that giant pandas are so endangered.

Behavior

What does the giant panda do with its day?

The panda is considered to be one of the most vocal bear species. Their most distinctive sound is their greeting which sounds like a bleat. Other vocalizations include honks, huffs, barks and growls while young cubs will croak and squeal.

The other method of communication used by pandas is scent marking. They have a gland under their short tails from which they secrete a waxy substance they place on most of the features of their environment. The scent is incredibly strong and can be smelt by a human up to a foot away. This mark provides information relating to the pandas gender, age, social status and if they are ready to mate.  Pandas aim to place these marks as high as possible. Occasionally they will use ‘handstands’ to get higher up a tree.

Currently it is thought that pandas are solitary and never meet with other pandas. They are known to maintain a home range which they mark out and defend. Some new research though suggests that pandas tolerate each other in their home ranges and will occasionally meet. Much research still needs to be done into this.

Giant Panda

Credit: Copyright. The Animal Facts.

Predators and Threats

What is impacting the survival of the giant panda?

Predators of the pandas include tigers and leopards. These animals are in such low numbers or are extinct in the pandas range meaning they pose little threat. Up until 2 ½ years old panda cubs are under threat from golden cats, dholes, weasels and yellow throated martens.

Quick facts

The giant panda goes by many names. Locals call it the ‘bamboo bear’, Their scientific name, ‘Ailuropoda melanoleuca’ means ‘ cat-foot black and white.’ Their Chinese name translates as ‘Giant Bear Cat.’

There is a small number of brown and white pandas in the Qinling mountains.

Giant pandas were first described for science in 1869 by the French Missionary Pere Armand David.

The panda is seen as a symbol for conservation the world over. It is used on the logo of the World Wildlife Fund.

Giant pandas are a national treasure in China and they only rarely allow them to go to international zoos. Having them is an honour for a zoos and requires them to donate $1 million a year to panda conservation.

Only 1600 giant pandas remain in the wild.

Giant Panda

Credit: Copyright. The Animal Facts.

References

Swaisgood, R., Wang, D. & Wei, F. 2016. Ailuropoda melanoleuca (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T712A121745669. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T712A45033386.en. Downloaded on 04 November 2021.

World Wildlife Fund. 2016. Giant panda no longer Endangered | Stories | WWF. [online] Available at: <https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/giant-panda-no-longer-endangered> [Accessed 4 November 2021].

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