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TheGiant Panda(Ailuropoda melanoleuca, literally meaning "cat-foot black-and-white") is abearnative to central-western and south westernChina.It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the orderCarnivora, the Giant Panda's diet is 99%bamboo.Other parts of its diet includehoney,eggs,fish,yams,shrub leaves,oranges, andbananas when available.
The Giant Panda lives in a fewmountainranges in central China, mainly inSichuanprovince, but also in theShaanxiandGansuprovinces. Due tofarming,deforestation, and other development, the Giant Panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
The Giant Panda is aconservation reliantendangered species.A 2007 report shows 239 Giant Pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild,while a 2006 study viaDNA analysisestimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.Some reports also show that the number of Giant Pandas in the wild is on the rise.However, theIUCNdoes not believe there is enough certainty yet to reclassify the species from Endangered to Vulnerable.
While thedragonhas historically served asChina'snational emblem, in recent decades the Giant Panda has also served as an emblem for thecountry. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorativesilver,gold, andplatinumcoins. Though the Giant Panda is often assumed to be docile, it has been known to attack humans, presumably out of irritation rather than predation.
The Giant Panda has a black-and-white coat. Adults measure around १.५ मीटर (४.९२ फूट) long and around ७५ सेंटीमीटर (२.४६ फूट) tall at theshoulder. Males are 10–20% larger than females.Males can weigh up to १५० किलोग्रॅम (३३१ पौंड). Females are generally smaller than males, and can occasionally weigh up to 125 kg (275 pounds).The Giant Panda lives in mountainous regions, such asSichuan,GansuandShaanxi.
The Giant Panda has a body shape typical ofbears. It has black fur on its ears, eye patches, muzzle, legs, arms and shoulders. The rest of the animal's coat is white. Although scientists do not know why these unusual bears are black and white, some speculate that the bold coloring provides effective camouflage into its shade-dappled snowy and rocky surroundings. The Giant Panda's thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in the cool forests of its habitat. The Giant Panda has largemolar teethand strong jaw muscles for crushing tough bamboo.
The Giant Panda'spawhasa "thumb" and five fingers; the "thumb" is actually a modifiedsesamoid bone, which helps the Giant Panda to hold bamboo while eating.Stephen Jay Gouldused this example in his book of essays concerned withevolutionandbiology,The Panda's Thumb.
The Giant Panda has the second longest tail in the bear family, with one that is १० to १५ सेंटीमीटर (३.९४ to ५.९१ इंच) long. The longest belongs to theSloth Bear.
The Giant Panda can usually live to be 25–30 years old incaptivity.
In the wild, the Giant Panda is aterrestrial animaland primarily spends its life roaming and feeding in the bamboo forests of the Qinling Mountains and in the hilly Sichuan Province.Though generally alone, each adult has a defined territory and females are not tolerant of other females in their range. Pandas communicate through vocalization and scent marking such as clawing trees or spraying urine.The Giant Panda is able to climb and take shelter in hollow trees or rock crevices but does not establish permanent dens. For this reason, pandas do nothibernate, which is similar to other subtropical mammals, and will instead move to elevations with warmer temperatures.Pandas rely primarily onspatial memoryrather thanvisual memory.
Social encounters occur primarily during the brief breeding season in which pandas in proximity to one another will gather.After mating, the male leaves the female alone to raise the cub.
Despite itstaxonomicclassification as acarnivore, the Giant Panda has adietthat is primarilyherbivorous, which consists almost exclusively of bamboo. However, the Giant Panda still has the digestive system of a carnivore, as well as carnivore-specific genes,and thus derives little energy and little protein from consumption of bamboo. Its ability to digestcelluloseis ascribed to the microbes in its gut.The average Giant Panda eats as much as 9 to 14 kg (20 to 30 pounds) of bamboo shoots a day. Because the Giant Panda consumes a diet low in nutrition, it is important for it to keep its digestive tract full. The limited energy input imposed on it by its diet has affected the panda's behavior. The Giant Panda tends to limit its social interactions and avoids steeply sloping terrain in order to limit its energy expenditures.
Two of the panda's most distinctive features, its large size and its round face, areadaptations to its bamboo diet. Panda researcherRussell Ciochonobserved that: “[much] like the vegetariangorilla, the low body surface area to body volume [of the giant panda] is indicative of a lower metabolic rate. This lower metabolic rate and a more sedentary lifestyle allow the giant panda to subsist on nutrient poor resources such as bamboo.”Similarly, the Giant Panda's round face is the result of powerful jaw muscles, which attach from the top of the head to the jaw.Large molars crush and grind fibrous plant material.
Twenty-five species of bamboo are eaten by pandas in the wild, such asFargesia dracocephalaandFargesia rufa.Only a few bamboo species are widespread at the high altitudes pandas now inhabit. Bamboo leaves contain the highest protein levels; stems have less.
Because of the synchronous flowering, death, and regeneration of all bamboo within a species, the Giant Panda must have at least two different species available in its range to avoid starvation. While primarily herbivorous, the Giant Panda still retains decidedly ursine teeth, and will eat meat, fish, and eggs when available. In captivity, zoos typically maintain the Giant Panda's bamboo diet, though some will provide specially formulated biscuits or other dietary supplements.
The giant panda genome was sequenced in 2009 using anext-generation sequencing technology.Its genome contains 20 pairs ofautosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes.
For many decades the precise taxonomic classification of the Giant Panda was under debate because it shares characteristics of both bears and raccoons. However,molecular studiessuggest that the Giant Panda is a true bear and part of theUrsidaefamily,though it differentiated early in history from the main ursine stock. The Giant Panda's closest ursine relative is theSpectacled BearofSouth America. The Giant Panda has been referred to as aliving fossil.
Despite the shared name, habitat type, and diet, as well as a unique enlarged bone called thepseudo thumb(which helps them grip the bamboo shoots they eat), the Giant Panda and Red Panda are only distantly related.Molecular studieshave placed the Red Panda in its own familyAiluridae, and not underUrsidae.
Two subspecies of Giant Panda have been recognized on the basis of distinct cranial measurements, color patterns, andpopulation genetics(Wan et al., 2005).
In the past, pandas were thought to be rare and noble creatures – themotherofEmperor Wen of Hanwas buried with a panda skull in her vault. The grandson ofEmperor Taizong of Tangis said to have givenJapantwo pandas and a sheet of panda skin as a sign of goodwill. Unlike many other animals inAncient China, pandas were rarely thought to have medical uses. The few known uses include the Sichuan tribal peoples' use of panda urine to melt accidentally swallowed needles, and the use of panda pelts to controlmensesas described in theQin DynastyencyclopediaErya.
The creature namedmo(貘) mentioned in some ancient books has been interpreted as giant panda.The dictionaryShuowen Jiezi(Eastern Han Dynasty) says that themo, fromShu(Sichuan), is bear-like, but yellow-and-black,although the olderEryadescribesmosimply as a "white leopard".The interpretation of the legendary fierce creaturepixiu(貔貅) as referring to the  giant panda are also common.
The comparative obscurity of the giant panda throughout most of China's history is illustrated by the fact that, despite there being a number of depictions of bears inChinese artstarting from its most ancient times, and the bamboo being one of the favorite subjects for Chinese painters, there are no known pre-20th-century artistic representations of giant pandas.
The Giant Panda was first made known to the West in 1869 by theFrenchmissionary,Armand David, who received a skin from a hunter on March 11, 1869. The first Westerner known to have seen a living Giant Panda is the German zoologistHugo Weigold, who purchased a cub in 1916.KermitandTheodore Roosevelt, Jr., became the first foreigners to shoot a panda, on an expedition funded by theField Museum of Natural Historyin the 1920s. In 1936,Ruth Harknessbecame the first Westerner to bring back a live Giant Panda, a cub namedSu Linwho went to live at theBrookfield ZooinChicago. In 1938 five Giant Pandas were sent to London;these activities were later halted because of wars and for the next half of the century, the West knew little of pandas.
Loans of Giant Pandas toAmericanandJapanese zoos formed an important part of thediplomacyof thePeople's Republic of Chinain the 1970s, as it marked some of the first cultural exchanges between the People's Republic and the West. This practice has been termed "Panda Diplomacy".
By 1984, however, pandas were no longer used as agents of diplomacy. Instead, China began to offer pandas to other nations only on 10-year loans. The standard loan terms include a fee of up toUS$1,000,000 per year and a provision that any cubs born during the loan are the property of the People's Republic of China. Since 1998, due to aWWFlawsuit, theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Serviceonly allows a U.S.zooto import a panda if the zoo can ensure that China will channel more than half of its loan fee intoconservationefforts for the Giant Panda and its habitat.
In May 2005, China offered a breeding pair toTaiwan. The issue became embroiled incross-Strait relations—both over the underlying symbolism, and over technical issues such as whether the transfer would be considered "domestic" or "international," or whether any true conservation purpose would be served by the exchange.China's offer was initially rejected byPresident Chenof Taiwan. However when the presidency changed hands China's offer was accepted at the beginning ofMa Ying-jeou's presidency in 2008, and the pandas themselves arrived in December of that year. A contest to name the pandas was held in China, resulting in the politically charged names "Tuan Tuan" and "Yuan Yuan" (fromtuanyuan, meaning "reunion", i.e. "reunification").
The Giant Panda is anendangered species, threatened by continuedhabitat lossand by a very low birthrate, both in the wild and incaptivity.
The Giant Panda has been a target for poaching by locals since ancient times, and by foreigners since it was introduced to the West. Starting in the 1930s, foreigners were unable to poach Giant Pandas in China because of theSecond Sino-Japanese Warand theChinese Civil War, but pandas remained a source of soft furs for the locals. The population boom in China after 1949 created stress on the pandas' habitat, and the subsequent famines led to the increased hunting of wildlife, including pandas. During theCultural Revolution, all studies and conservation activities on the pandas were stopped. After theChinese economic reform, demand for panda skins fromHong Kongand Japan led to illegal poaching for theblack market, acts generally ignored by the local officials at the time.
Though theWolong National Nature Reservewas set up by the PRC government in 1958 to save the declining panda population, few advances in the conservation of pandas were made, due to inexperience and insufficient knowledge of ecology. Many believed that the best way to save the pandas was to cage them. As a result, pandas were caged at any sign of decline, and suffered from terrible conditions. Because of pollution and destruction of their natural habitat, along with segregation due to caging, reproduction of wild pandas was severely limited. In the 1990s, however, several laws (including gun control and the removal of resident humans from the reserves) helped the chances of survival for pandas. With these renewed efforts and improved conservation methods, wild pandas have started to increase in numbers in some areas, even though they still are classified as arare species.
In 2006, scientists reported that the number of pandas living in the wild may have been underestimated at about 1,000. Previous population surveys had used conventional methods to estimate the size of the wild panda population, but using a new method that analyzesDNAfrom pandadroppings, scientists believe that the wild panda population may be as large as 3,000. Although the species is still endangered, it is thought that the conservation efforts are working. As of 2006, there were 40 panda reserves in China, compared to just 13 reserves two decades ago.
The Giant Panda is among the world's most adored and protected rare animals, and is one of the few in the world whose natural inhabitant status was able to gain aUNESCO World Heritage Sitedesignation. TheSichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, located in the southwestSichuanprovince and covering seven natural reserves, were inscribed onto the World Heritage List in 2006.
Not all conservationists agree that the money spent on conserving pandas is money well spent.Chris Packhamhas argued that breeding pandas in captivity is "pointless" because "there is not enough habitat left to sustain them".Packham argues that the money spent on pandas would be better spent elsewhere,and has said that he would "eat the last panda if I could have all the money we have spent on panda conservation put back on the table for me to do more sensible things with,"though he has apologized for upsetting people who like pandas.He points out that "The panda is possibly one of the grossest wastes of conservation money in the last half century."
Initially the primary method of breeding Giant Pandas in captivity was byartificial insemination, as they seemed to lose their interest inmatingonce they were captured.This led some scientists to try extreme methods such as showing themvideos of giant Pandas matingand giving the malesViagra.Only recently have researchers started having success with captive breeding programs, and they have now determined that Giant Pandas have comparable breeding to some populations of theAmerican Black Bear, a thriving bear family. The current reproductive rate is considered one young every two years.
Giant Pandas reach sexual maturity between the ages of four and eight, and may be reproductive until age 20.The mating season is between March and May, when a female goes into herestrous cyclewhich lasts for two or three days and only occurs once a year.When mating, the female is in a crouching, head-down position as the male mounts her from behind.Copulationtime is short, ranging from thirty seconds to five minutes, but the male may mount her repeatedly to ensure successful fertilization. Thegestationperiod ranges from 95 to 160 days.Cubs weigh only 90 to 130 grams (3.2 to 4.6 ounces), which is about 1/900 of the mother's weight. Usually, the female gives birth to one or two cubs. Since cubs are born very small and helpless, they need the mother's undivided attention, so she is able to care for only one of her cubsसाचा:Dubious. She usually abandons one of her cubs, and it dies soon after birth. At this time, scientists do not know how the female chooses which cub to raise, and this is a topic of ongoing research. The father has no part in helping raise the cub.
When the cub is first born, it is pink, fदुवाess, and blind. A Giant Panda cub is also extremely small, and it is difficult for the mother to protect it because of the baby's size. It nurses from its mother's breast 6 to 14 times a day for up to 30 minutes at a time. For three to four hours, the mother may leave the den to feed, which leaves the cub defenseless. One to two weeks after birth, the cub's skin turns gray where its hair will eventually become black. A slight pink color may appear on cub's fur, as a result of achemical reactionbetween the fur and its mother'ssaliva. A month after birth, the color pattern of the cub's fur is fully developed. A cub's fur is very soft and coarsens with age. The cub begins to crawl at 75 to 90 days; mothers play with their cubs by rolling and wrestling with them. The cubs are able to eat small quantities of bamboo after six months, though mother's milk remains the primary food source for most of the first year. Giant Panda cubs weigh 45 kg (99.2 pounds) at one year, and live with their mothers until they are 18 months to two years old. The interval between births in the wild is generally two years.
In July 2009, Chinese scientists confirmed the birth of the first cub to be successfully conceived through artificial insemination using frozen sperm.The cub was born at 07:41 on 23 July that year inSichuanas the third child of You You, an 11-year-old.The technique for freezing the sperm inliquid nitrogenwas first developed in 1980 and the first birth was hailed as a solution to the problem of lessening Giant Panda semen availability which had led to in-breeding.It has been suggested that panda semen, which can be frozen for decades, could be shared between different zoos to save the species.It is expected that zoos in destinations such asSan Diegoin theUnited StatesandMexico Citywill now be able to provide their own semen to inseminate more Giant Pandas.
There is no conclusive source for the origin of the Anglicized name "panda." The closest candidate that has been accepted as the source originates in theNepaliwordponya,possibly referring to the adapted wrist bone. TheWestern worldoriginally applied this name to the Red Panda. Until 1901, when it was erroneously stated that it was related to the Red Panda, the Giant Panda was known as "mottled bear" (Ailuropus melanoleucus) or "particolored bear."
In most encyclopedic sources, the name "panda" or "common panda" originally referred to the lesser-knownRed Panda,thus necessitated the inclusion of "giant" and "lesser/red" prefixes in front of the names. Even now, Encyclopaedia Britannica still uses "giant panda" or "panda bear" for the bearand simply "panda" for theAiluridae,despite the popular usage of the word "panda" today.
Since the earliest collection of Chinese writings, theChinese languagehas given the bear 20 different names, such as 花熊 (hua xiong) "spotted bear" and 竹熊 (zhu xiong) "bamboo bear."The most popular names in China today are 大熊貓 (dà xióng māo), literally "large bear cat," or just 熊貓 (xióng māo), "bear cat." The name may have been inspired by the Giant Panda's eyes which have pupils that are cat-like vertical slits unlike otherbear specieswith round pupils.
InTaiwan, the popular name for panda is the inverted 貓熊 (māo xióng) "cat bear," even though many encyclopedia and dictionaries in Taiwan still use "bear cat" as the correct name. Some linguists argue that, in this construction, "bear" instead of "cat" is the base noun, making this name more grammatically and logically correct, which may have led to the popular choice despite official writings.
Pandas have been kept in zoos as early as theWestern Han Dynastyin China, where the writerSima Xiangrunotes that the panda was the most treasured animal in the emperor's garden of exotic animals inXi'an. Not until the 1950s were pandas again recorded to have been exhibited in China's zoos.
A 2006न्यू यॉर्क टाइम्सarticleoutlined the economics of keeping pandas, which costs five times more than that of the next most expensive animal, anelephant. American zoos generally pay the Chinese government $1 million a year in fees, as part of a typical ten-year contract.San Diego'scontract with China was to expire in 2008 but got a five-year extension at about half of the previous yearly cost.The last contract, with theMemphis ZooinMemphis, Tennessee, ends in 2013.साचा:Seealso
Many zoos and breeding centers in China house giant pandas.  These include:
As of 2007, five major North Americanzoos have Giant Pandas:
The first sequences of pandas in the wild were shot by Franz Camenzind forABCin about 1982. They were bought by BBC Natural History Unit for their weekly magazine showNature.
Recently,NHNZhas featured pandas in two documentaries.Panda Nursery(2006) featured China’sWolong National Nature Reservein the mountains inSichuanProvince; forty Giant Pandas and a dedicated team of staff play a crucial role in ensuring the survival of the species. As part of the Reserve’s panda breeding program, a revolutionary new method of rearing twin cubs called ‘swap-raising’ has been developed. Each cub is raised by both its natural mother and one of the Reserve’s veterinarians, Wei Rongping, to increase the chances of both cubs surviving.Growing Up: Giant Panda(2003) featured Chengdu Giant Panda Center in south-west China as one of the best in the world. Yet with female pandas' short fertility cycles and low birth rates, raising the captive panda population is an uphill battle.