Panda Facts
SPECIES:
| GIANT PANDA (AILUROPODA MELANOLEUCA) |
STATUS:
| ENDANGERED |
DISTRIBUTION:
| Found in the mountain ranges in central China. |
HABITAT:
| High-elevation broadleaf forests with bamboo understorey. |
FOOD:
| Bamboo. |
SIZE:
| 1.2 - 1.8m (4 - 6ft); 110kg (242lb) |
MATURITY:
| 4 - 8 years |
BREEDING:
| Sinlge cub born every 3 - 4 years |
LIFE SPAN:
| 35 years |
THREATS:
| The greatest threat to panda survival is the loss and degradation of its habitat. The giant panda's range is steadily shrinking as logging operations - many of them illegal - fell trees, and peasants clear land for farming or harvest vegetation for fuel. Already panda populations are small and isolated, confined to high ridges and hemmed in by cultivation.
Giant pandas are killed, however, as victims of poachers' snares set for musk deer. An indirect threat from habitat fragmentation relates to the panda's reliance on bamboo for food. This threat arises because bamboo stands are subject to periodic large-scale die-offs. In the past, when bamboo died off, pandas could migrate to areas with healthy bamboo. But with fragmented habitat, this may not be possible. |
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A panda sits in the snow eating bamboo
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A panda in the snow at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.
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Panda Bear Baby
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