FOCUS: Giant Panda

Source: The World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of San Diego

In Chinese, the giant panda is called Daxiongmao, which means large bear cat. The Giant Panda's scientific name - Ailuropoda melanoleuca - means black and white cat-footed animal.There is debate as to whether pandas are part of the bear or raccoon family. Giant pandas are categorized in the bear family. Most wild pandas are scattered throughout mountain ranges in the Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in Central China. Pandas have patches of black fur around their eyes. Their ears, noses, legs, and shoulders are also black. The rest of their bodies are white. Their very thick, stiff fur is about two inches long and keeps them warm in the mountains where it is cold and snowy. Pandas are five to six feet in length and are around 2 1/2 feet tall at the shoulder. They have short tails that are only four to six inches long. They weigh between 220 and 330 pounds. Even though they are so large, pandas are very flexible and can do somersaults. Pandas eat bamboo leaves, shoots, and stems. They sit up when they eat. They have a sixth toe on each of their front paws. These toes are like thumbs. They help the pandas hold the bamboo which they eat. Pandas spend as much as 16 hours a day eating. They eat 25 to 45 pounds of bamboo each day, but may eat even more. There are hundreds of species of bamboo, each with different nutritional contents. Giant pandas not only need to eat a lot of bamboo, but a variety as well. At regular intervals (from 10 to more than 100 years, depending upon the species), bamboo plants flower over large areas and die. It takes bamboo about a year to regenerate from seed, and up to 10 years before it can support a panda population. This cycle can create problems for pandas, since they are dependent on bamboo for food and their range keeps diminishing. Areas of panda habitat are being cut down for timber, agriculture, and other uses, ever shrinking their natural range. Pandas live alone, meeting only occasionally with other pandas, or during the two or three day mating seasons when several males may come together and compete for a female between April and May. Gestation (duration of pregnancy) is between four and five months. The female gives birth to one or two cubs each year. They are usually born in August or September. The babies weigh only three to five ounces at birth. They have pink skin and are almost hairless. The mother keeps her babies warm and protects them. The cubs do not open their eyes until they are 1 1/2 months old. They don't begin to walk until they are 2 1/2 months old and cannot eat bamboo shoots until five months of age. The cubs are independent and develop a solitary lifestyle after 18 months. Panda populations have decreased drastically over the past few decades at a rate of about 5-7 percent each year. A mere 1,000 pandas exist today. Hunters used to kill many pandas, and others died when their habitat was destroyed. Pandas are now protected by laws. Under these laws, offenders convicted of poaching giant pandas or smuggling giant panda pelts could receive life imprisonment or the death sentence. Moreover, Pandas? isolated conditions often cause inbreeding, which can cause a decrease in fertility and long term genetic defects. It is also difficult to have pandas mate successfully in captivity. Cubs born in captivity do not always live. A panda's average life span is 10-15 years. A cooperative project between World Wildlife Fund and the People's Republic of China was initiated in 1980 to learn more about the giant panda and to ensure its conservation. This marked the first joint venture between China and a private conservation organization. With WWF assistance, the Chinese government has established 12 nature reserves in order to preserve the panda's habitat. Since 1980, WWF has contributed more than $4 million towards preservation research at the Wolong Panda Reserve Center. This Center carries out laboratory research, captive breeding, radio-collar monitoring and supports scientific field work. The facility is run entirely by Chinese scientists. In 1993, WWF helped the Chinese government create a comprehensive management plan for the giant panda which has been widely accepted by biologists worldwide. The plan would set aside an additional network of 13 critical habitat preserves, link them by corridors and establish a program of training and conservation. The World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of San Diego will train managers and staff of newly established giant panda habitat reserve areas, as well as administrators who are responsible for giant panda conservation policy. There are three pandas living in the United States today: Shi Shi and Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo's Giant Panda Research Station and Hsing-Hsing , the oldest living male panda in captivity, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Shi Shi and Bai Yun are on loan from China for twelve years.