Panda life

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Panda life

• Presented by
• Brandon Cameron

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Physical Description

• Body Type
• Although scientists do not know why these unusual
  bears are black and white, some speculate that
  the bold coloring provides effective camouflage
  into their shade-dappled snowy and rocky
  surroundings.
• The panda's thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in
  the cool forests of its habitat. Giant pandas
  have large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles for
  crushing tough bamboo.

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Habitat

• Locations
• High in dense bamboo forests in the misty, rainy
  mountains of southwestern China lives one of
  the worlds rarest mammals the panda.
  
• Population
• Only about 1,000 of these
• black-and-white relatives
• of bears survive in the wild.

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Survival

• Eating
• Pandas eat almost nothing but bamboo shoots and
  leaves. Occasionally they eat other vegetation,
  fish, or small animals, but bamboo accounts for
  99 percent of their diets.
• Life Span
• Scientists aren't sure how long giant pandas live
  in the wild, but they are sure it's shorter than
  life spans in zoos. Chinese scientists have
  reported zoo pandas as old as 35.
• Current Status
• The giant panda is listed as endangered in the
  World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of
  Threatened Animals. It is one of the most
  critically endangered species in the world. There
  are about 1,600 left in the wild. More than 160
  pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around
  the world, mostly in China.

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Interaction

• With humans
• The Giant Panda has long been a favorite of the
  public, at least partly on account of the fact
  that the species has an appealing baby-like
  cuteness that makes it seem to resemble a living
  teddy bear. The fact that it is usually depicted
  reclining peacefully eating bamboo, as opposed
  to hunting, also adds to its image of
  innocence. Though the Giant Panda is often
  assumed docile because of their cuteness, they
  have been known to attack humans, usually
  assumed to be out of irritation rather than
  predatory behavior.
• With each other
• Adult pandas are generally solitary, but they
  do communicate periodically through scent
  marks, calls, and occasional meetings.
  Offspring stay with their mothers from one and
  a half to three years.

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Reproduction

• Giant pandas reach breeding maturity between four
  and eight years of age. They may be reproductive
  until about age 20. Female pandas ovulate only
  once a year, in the spring. A short period of two
  to three days around ovulation is the only time
  she is able to conceive. Calls and scents draw
  males and females to each other.
• Female giant pandas give birth between 95 and 160
  days after mating. Although females may give
  birth to two young, usually only one survives.
  Giant panda cubs may stay with their mothers for
  up to three years before striking out on their
  own. This means a wild female, at best, can
  produce young only every other year in her
  lifetime, she may successfully raise only five to
  eight cubs. The giant pandas naturally slow
  breeding rate prevents a population from
  recovering quickly from illegal hunting, habitat
  loss, and other human-related causes of mortality.

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Overall Lifestyle

• Cubs
• At birth, the cub is helpless, and it takes
  considerable effort on the mothers part to raise
  it. A newborn cub weighs three to five ounces and
  is about the size of a stick of butter. Pink,
  hairless, and blind, the cub is 1/900th the size
  of its mother. Except for a marsupial (such as
  the kangaroo or opossum), a giant panda baby is
  the smallest mammal newborn relative to its
  mother's size.
• Cubs do not open their eyes until they are six to
  eight weeks of age and are not mobile until three
  months. A cub may nurse for eight to nine months.
  A cub is nutritionally weaned at one year, but
  not socially weaned for up to two years.
• Adults
• A wild panda spends much of its day resting,
  feeding, and seeking food. Unlike other bears
  from temperate climates, giant pandas do not
  hibernate. Until recently, scientists thought
  giant pandas spent most of their lives alone,
  with males and females meeting only during the
  breeding season. Recent studies paint a different
  picture, in which small groups of pandas share a
  large territory and sometimes meet outside the
  breeding season. Much remains to be learned about
  the secret lives of these elusive animal.

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The end