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Life span
25-30 years
Size
Body length:
160-190cm Weight: male: 85-125kg, female: 70-100kg.
Physical
Appearance
They are white
with black eye patches and black ears, legs, feet, chest and shoulders.
The fur is dense to protect the panda from the cold and damp climate in
which they live. They are heavy-bodied with a large head and rounded ears.
Distribution
Giant pandas
live in south western China.
Habitat
They are
limited to bamboo thickets in mountainous regions between altitudes of
1200 and 3500m.
Diet
Ninety nine
per cent of a panda's diet is made up of 30 species of bamboo. The
remaining one per cent is made up of other plants and meat. Their
digestion of bamboo is very inefficient; pandas only digest about 20 per
cent of the dry matter of bamboo, whereas most herbivores assimilate about
80 per cent. This means that they must eat large amounts to obtain their
energy requirements. They can eat between 12 and 38kg of bamboo shoots,
leaves and stems per 24 hour period.
Social
organisation and behaviour
They are
solitary except for mothers with cubs and during the mating season. Giant
pandas occupy territories of 3.9-6.4 square km (male ranges are larger
than females'), which is much smaller than most other bears. Male
territories overlap those of females.
They are
active at any time of the day or night.
They mainly
feed on the ground but they are also capable of climbing trees.
Reproduction
Mating takes
place from March to May, and females give birth from August to September.
They usually give birth to 1-2 cubs; occasionally they may give birth to
three or even four cubs, but it is rare for more than one cub to survive
to adulthood. They are born blind and helpless, with a thin layer of fur.
The cub stays with its mother for 1.5 years.
Their
reproductive success in captivity is low, and it probably also is in the
wild.
Conservation/status
Giant pandas
are classified as Endangered by the IUCN and are listed on CITES: Appendix
I. Their reliance on bamboo makes them vulnerable to habitat loss. They
were once hunted for their fur, meat and body parts.
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