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Giant Panda: Habitat, Diet, and Conservation

The giant panda is a bear native to south central China that is easily recognized by its large black patches around its eyes, ears, and body. Though it is a carnivore, the giant panda's diet is over 99% bamboo. It lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but has been driven out of lowland areas due to farming and deforestation. Estimates of wild giant pandas vary between 1,590 and 3,000 individuals, and the species is currently considered vulnerable with populations increasing in some areas.

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59 views1 page

Giant Panda: Habitat, Diet, and Conservation

The giant panda is a bear native to south central China that is easily recognized by its large black patches around its eyes, ears, and body. Though it is a carnivore, the giant panda's diet is over 99% bamboo. It lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but has been driven out of lowland areas due to farming and deforestation. Estimates of wild giant pandas vary between 1,590 and 3,000 individuals, and the species is currently considered vulnerable with populations increasing in some areas.

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Fallen Grove
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The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, literally "black and white cat-foot"; Chinese:

; pinyin: d xing mo, literally "big bear cat"),[3] also known as panda bear or simply panda, is
a bear[4] native to south central China.[1] It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches
around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes
used to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the
giant panda's diet is over 99% bamboo.[5] Giant pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other
grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may
receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared
food.[6][7]
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but
also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu.[8] As a result of farming, deforestation, and other
development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
The giant panda is a conservation reliant vulnerable species.[9][10] A 2007 report showed 239 pandas
living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.[11] As of December 2014, 49 giant
pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 different countries. [12] Wild population
estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, [11] while a
2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000. [13] Some
reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise. [14] In March
2015, Mongabay stated that the wild giant panda

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