Pandas

Giant pandas live in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. They once lived in lowland areas, but farming, forest clearing, and other development now restrict giant pandas to the mountains. Giant pandas live in broadleaf and coniferous forests with a dense under-story of bamboo, at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. Torrential rains or dense mist throughout the year characterizes these forests, often shrouded in heavy clouds.






Baby pandas are amazingly small. Each cub
weighs only about 3 1⁄2 ounces (100 grams)
at birth. Newborn pandas cry for milk
about every two hours. Between feedings,
a panda mother will rarely put her baby down.
When sitting, the mother holds the tiny
creature in her paw. When she is on the
move, she carries the baby gently in her
mouth. Panda cubs can walk on their own
when they are about three months old.


Pandas eat primarily bamboo, but eat various grasses, berries, flowers and tree bark as well. They eat carrion ('meat' that's been killed by something else) if they come across it, and may also eat fish, and small rodents. They do not actively hunt. Panda's have poor eyesight, thus making it difficult to see their prey - plus they're not excessively quick. This type of a diet (meat and plants) makes the panda omnivorous, as opposed to purely herbivorous - vegetarian. andas eat primarily bamboo, but eat various grasses, berries, flowers and tree bark as well. They eat carrion ('meat' that's been killed by something else) if they come across it, and may also eat fish, and small rodents. They do not actively hunt. Panda's have poor eyesight, thus making it difficult to see their prey - plus they're not excessively quick. This type of a diet (meat and plants) makes the panda omnivorous, as opposed to purely herbivorous - vegetarian.



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



Giant pandas are an endangered species, threatened by continued habitat loss and by a very low birthrate, both in the wild and in captivity. Poaching is uncommon; killing a panda was punishable in China by death until a 1997 law changed the penalty to 20 years imprisonment. Despite this, only 1600 giant pandas are left. The giant panda has an unusual paw, with a "thumb" and five fingers; the "thumb" is actually a modified sesamoid bone, which helps the panda to hold the bamboo while eating. Stephen Jay Gould wrote an essay about this, then used the title The Panda's Thumb for a book of essays concerned with evolution and intelligent design. The giant panda has a short tail, approximately 15 cm long.Giant pandas can usually live to be 20-30 years old while living in captivity.

Fro more information on pandas visit the following sites I used:
http://www.hedweb.com/animimag/pandlink.jpg
what pandas eat pic

www.eduplace.com/.../ hmm05_wrc_1267b.gif
Where pandas live

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~neils/bobby/images/2pandas.jpg
panda interaction

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/images/050712_babypandas.jpg
baby panda

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-09/29/xin_2609022907236952821214.jpg
why they in captivity