The giant panda belongs to the phylum Chordata , class Mammalia , and order Carnivora . The controversies of whether the giant panda belongs to the bear family, Ursidae , or the raccoon family, Procyonidae , are still under debate. Meanwhile, Chinese zoologists contend that it should be classified as belonging to another distinct taxonomic family, Ailuropodidae . For certain period of time, three names Ailuropoda , Ursus melanoleuca , and Aeluropus were used in scientific literature for the giant panda. Nevertheless, the scientific name, Ailuropoda melanoleuca , remains stable in recent years with ailuropoda meaning cat-footed and melanoleuca meaning the large black and white kind.
China is the native home of the giant pandas.
Giant pandas are found exclusively in the mountains of central China. They distribute within a limited area of the southern range of the Qin Ling Mountains in Shaanxi province, the Min Mountains bordering southern Gansu province, and the Qionglai and Balang Mountains, the Great and the Lesser Xiang Hills and Liang Mountains in Sichuan province. See Map 1. The mountains of these three panda provinces are divided into several vertical floors of vegetation. Different plants and animals are bounded to specific altitudinal zones that are classified according to their temperature and elevation.