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Giant Pandas
(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
"Da xiong mao", the Chinese name for the giant panda means "great bear cat". Chinese books, written over 3,000 years ago, talk of the giant panda. Even then, it was believed to be endowed with mystical powers capable of warding off natural disasters and evil spirits. The scientific name for giant pandas, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, simply means black and white bear.
For centuries, the giant panda has been considered to be very special and was kept in captivity as the pet of ancient Chinese emperors. Since its introduction to the western world in 1869 by a French missionary who shipped back a pelt to the Museum of Natural History in Paris, it has become the most revered animal in all the world.
Giant pandas are classed as bears by most scientists. Until recently, giant pandas were grouped with raccoons and lesser pandas (i.e., the Procyonidae (raccoon) family). This decision was based primarily on physiological evidence. In the late 1980's, DNA/serological studies clearly established that giant pandas are clearly more bear than raccoon. Some scientists want to place giant pandas in their own grouping but for most bear researchers, this does not seem warranted.
The giant panda only exists at present in six small areas located in inland China (see map). The habitat, suitable for the bamboo on which it survives, is a cold, damp coniferous forest. The elevation ranges from 1,200 to 3,400 metres ( 4,000 to 11,000 feet) high. In most of the areas in which they still roam wild, they must compete with farmers who farm the river valleys and the lower slopes of the mountains.
It is estimated that there are somewhere around 700 and 1,000 giant pandas still alive in the wild. Because of their reliance on bamboo as their primary food, they will remain in significant danger unless their present habitat is expanded. The differing varieties of bamboo go through periodic die-offs as part of their renewal cycle. Without the ability to move to new areas which have not been affected, starvation and death will certainly occur for the giant panda. Such die-offs of the bamboo also put the giant pandas in more direct contact with farmers and poachers as the bears try to find new areas in which to feed.
The giant panda is a large mammal which, overall, has the same general size and shape of the American black bear and the Asiatic black bear.
In general, adult giant pandas and have a length of 160 to 180 centimeters (5 1/4 to 6 feet). The weight of a adult male giant panda is normally between 80 and 125 kilograms (176 and 276 pounds) with males typically weighing about 10% to 20% more than females.
With few natural enemies other than man, the lifespan of giant pandas in the wild is thought to be twenty-five years or more.
Giant pandas have a massive head, heavy body, short tail, rounded ears and plantigrade feet (i.e., both heel and toe make contact with the ground when walking in a manner similar to humans).
A sedentary bear who usually stays in a selected feeding area eating large amounts of bamboo, giant pandas generally move in a slow, determined manner. When startled, they will move at a slow trot to escape danger. Giant pandas, with their short claws, are capable of climbing trees very easily.
The head of the giant panda is very large and has developed large molars which are specifically designed to crush fibrous plant material. It has powerful muscles which extend from the top of its head to the jaws giving it the capacity to crush tough stalks.
Even the throat of the giant panda has undergone significant evolution as the esophagus has a tough, horny lining to protect the bear from injury due to bamboo splinters. The stomach is similarly protected with its thick muscular wall linings.
Giant pandas have forepaws which are extremely flexible. Evolution has given them a enlarged wrist bone (the radial sesamoid) that works in the manner of an opposable thumb. This highly functional adaptation allows the giant panda to manipulate their primary food source, bamboo stems and leaves, with dexterity and precision. The hind feet of the giant panda lack the heel pad found in the other seven bear species.
While members of the order Carnivora , giant pandas have evolved almost exclusively into vegetarians with accompanying changes in their dental structure and, also, to a lesser degree, their digestive tract. Their short intestine is still not sufficiently developed to remove all of the available nutrients from the fibrous bamboo on which they feed.
The basic fur colour of the giant panda is white with black eye patches, ears, legs, feet, chest, and shoulders. Within its natural environment ( the deep forest and, at upper elevations, snow and rock) , its mottled colouring provides camouflage. There is also speculation that its striking colour pattern may be a clear message to other pandas to stay away as the giant panda is an extremely solitary animal.
The fur of the giant panda is thick and coarse. It consists of a coarse outer layer and a very dense, wooly-like underfur. To the touch, the fur feels oily. This oily protective coating helps protects giant pandas from the cool and damp climate in which the bear lives.
Although giant pandas will eat a large variety of plants, the overwhelming bulk of their diet, over 99%, consists of bamboo leaves, stems and shoots. Over fifteen different varieties of bamboo grow within the region.
Because of the giant pandas still quite inefficient intestinal system, it must eat great amounts of bamboo each day in order to get sufficient nutrition to survive. Feeding for 12 to 16 hours each day, giant pandas will consume 10 to 18 kilograms (22 to 40 pounds) of bamboo leaves and stems. When consuming fresh bamboo shoots, the necessary intake rises to approximately 38 kilograms (84 pounds) each day.
The size of the home range of an giant panda is quite small when compared to the home ranges of other bear species.
In general, a home range will vary from 3.8 to 6.5 square kilometers (1.5 to 2.5 square miles). The range of an individual giant panda is shared with other bears. Females have been found to stay in quite small, discrete ranges only 30 to 40 hectares (75 to 100 acres) in size. Males have larger home ranges which overlap the home ranges of several females.
Female giant pandas do not normally mature until they are 5 to 7 years of age. Copulation normally takes place in a manner similar to members of the canine (dog) family.
Mating begins in late-March and continues on into May. Similar to other bear species, the female stays in heat for only a short time, normally two to seven days. Unlike any other bear, males will often roar to announce their presence to receptive females. Females may mate with several males during the breeding season.
Through a remarkable process referred to as delayed implantation, the fertilized ovum divides a few times and then floats free within the uterus for a few months with its development arrested. Sometime around June or July, the embryo will attach itself to the uterine wall and after a gestation period of eight weeks (August or September), the giant panda female will enter a rock cavity or hollow tree to deliver one or two cubs.
At birth, the cubs are blind and very tiny. They weigh from 90 to 130 grams (3 to 4 1/2 ounces). This is about the size of a chipmunk. The newborn cubs are covered with a fine white fur but will have acquired the typical giant panda fur colouration within a month of their birth.
The mother will use the maternity den for a month to a month and a half. Cradling the newborn cub in her forepaws, the mother will hold the cub so that it is able to suckle similar to a human mother nursing her child. The female regularly leaves the den for two to three hours to forage on nearby bamboo. Giant panda cubs are eating bamboo by the time they are 6 months old and are fully weaned by the time they are 9 months of age. At one year of age, the cubs normally weigh about 35 kilograms (75 pounds).
Giant panda cubs are extremely vulnerable while the mother is away feeding on bamboo. During this time, the newborn is subject to predation by any number of predators.
The cubs will stay with the mother for the entire first year to year and a half. Normally they are driven off by their mother as she prepares to breed once more.
The survival of giant panda cubs is totally dependent on the skill of the mother in both protecting them and teaching them the basics of what to eat, where and how to get it, how to cope with danger and all the other skills of living in the wild.
Giant pandas are one of the four bear species who do not hibernate. The reasons for this are twofold. First, the natural food source of these bears is not sufficiently high in calories and protein to allow them to put on sufficient fat resources to last a lengthy period of hibernation. Second, they live in a habitat zone where food is available on a year round basis.
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