Lifespan of a panda. Giant panda or bamboo bear (animal)

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is the world's largest non-governmental international organization, thanks to which the panda has become a symbol of the environmental movement of the entire planet. The foundation's logo was created by renowned biologist and artist Sir Peter Scott in 1961.

Origin: either raccoon or bear

Bei-shung (Chinese for “polar bear”) was first discovered in 1869 and captured in 1937 (the panda died in captivity a year later).

Scientists still do not know the exact origin of the panda, since it has the characteristics of a bear, raccoon, cat and marten at the same time, definitely not belonging to any of the listed animals. Some scientists believe that the panda belongs to the bear family, since in appearance it is similar to these animals. This point of view prevailed for some time, which is why the panda was called the “bamboo bear.”

Other scientists argue that the panda is a giant raccoon. In 1936, the American scientist William Gregory, after a thorough study of the animals, found in the panda many anatomical features characteristic of American raccoons. After this event, the panda received another name - “Himalayan raccoon”.

Still other scientists are confident that the panda is a “transitional link” between the families of bears and raccoons. They are apparently right. Although the point of view that “bei-shung” is oldest representative bear genus and may be the ancestor of modern clubfooted animals, is also accepted.

Habitat

The habitat of the giant panda is limited to the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, and northeastern Tibet. Individual encounters and finds confirm the presence of the animal in wildlife. The habitat of the giant panda is dense, impenetrable bamboo thickets of steep mountain slopes at an altitude of 2000-3800 meters above sea level (above the rhododendron zone begins, where the panda rarely visits). It also rarely descends into the valleys, where meeting a person is most likely.

Appearance

The giant panda's body is elongated; the animal looks squat due to its short legs. The body shape is round. The height at the shoulders of an adult animal reaches 70 centimeters, the weight is solid - 75-160 kilograms. The muzzle is short, the ears are black, there are black circles around the eyes, as if the animal was wearing glasses. On the paws there are black “stockings”, and on the chest there is a “vest” of the same color; the rest of the body is white. Thus, the panda is very attractive in appearance: it is like a large teddy bear, “sewn” from white and black scraps, and white much more.

Nutritional Features

Giant panda- a type of herbivorous bear. The local name of the beast is “nyala-poncha”, which means “bamboo eater”. Panda is a vegetarian. It feeds on roots and young shoots of bamboo, tree leaves, and occasionally small rodents.

Features of movement

The panda has the remarkable ability to not only run quickly on the ground, but also roll head over heels on steep slopes. In this case, the animal presses its front paws to its eyes, protecting them, and presses its hind paws to its stomach. The soles of the paws are densely covered with long dark hair. The claws on the paws are more than 3 centimeters long, the toes are mobile and partially retractable. Having formed a “living wheel”, the panda is able to develop great speed, which is very important when there is danger from the main enemies “ polar bear- red wolves and leopards. Nowadays, fortunately, they are quite rare in the usual habitats of pandas. There is another enemy - a man who is technically more armed than a panda.

Behavior and character

The panda is not a social animal. This is a loner. The exception is female mothers who do not let their babies leave them until they are one year old. The animals are very sensitive and careful: at the slightest danger they quickly hide in the thickets. Therefore, catching a panda is always fraught with great difficulties.

Young pandas in captivity are very playful. They are good-natured, move a lot, take the most unusual poses. They're just acrobats! Pandas can stand on their heads, helping themselves with their front paws, while their hind paws are extended or bent. The panda's tail is white, short, spade-shaped, no more than 20 centimeters long. Pandas are great at tumbling, it gives them special pleasure. A similar game has great value in the wild; the mechanism of escape from predators has been worked out in the process of evolution and is recognized by Nature as optimal in mountain conditions.

The solidity of adult pandas is expressed, in particular, in their poses. Animals sit for a long time, as if in a chair, resting one of their paws on a rock ledge, a tree trunk or a large stone, or leaning their back against some object. In this comfortable position, pandas spend hours either dozing or doing something with one of their front paws: clearing twigs of leaves, scratching themselves, sorting through straws. And all these actions happen slowly, concentratedly and measuredly. One of the panda's wrist bones has lengthened and acts like thumb on a person's hand, opposing all others. Therefore, a panda can firmly hold the thinnest bamboo stems in its paws: its “sixth toe” presses the stems tightly against all the other toes on its paw.

In the wild, pandas are active in the evening, night and early morning. Growing up, at 3-4 years, pandas become slower, acquiring a bearish posture and drowsiness. They are no longer as trusting as young animals. You should interact with them carefully, as they may bite.

The giant panda moves well on steep mountain slopes, quickly and easily climbs tall trees. Sitting comfortably on large branches or in the forks of tree trunks, the animals rest during the day during the hot summer. In winter, pandas dig holes at the foot of large trees, where they hide in bad weather; V hibernation, like bears, they do not fall. In the heat, pandas try to hide in shelter, in the shade; in addition, they willingly swim in shallow rivers. Pandas make their lairs for rest on the shady side of mountain slopes. These shelters often serve them for a long time.

Mating games for pandas begin in the spring. The baby is born in early September. Usually a panda has one or two cubs. In captivity, pandas live up to 13 years.

Xinhua News Agency reported in 1995 that nature reserve In southwest China, in the Sichuan province, a colony of three dozen pandas was discovered, which “preserved the features of prehistoric predatory animals.” Chinese zoologists were skeptical about previously received information from local residents that pandas in this province were far from harmless. It turned out that they devour sheep, goats and even cows. One predatory panda was captured and transferred to another reserve, where scientists could monitor it constantly.

Panda Rescue 1: Bamboo Forest Conservation

The excessively narrow food specialization of the panda, like the Australian koala bear, does not contribute to the prosperity of the species. When the bamboo blooms and after that large areas perishes (this is botanical property of this plant), the pandas are in trouble: famine begins. No replacement for bamboo has yet been found. In the 1970s in China, after the massive death of bamboo, the number of pandas in the wild declined sharply. It is estimated that by the end of the 1980s there were no more than 1,000 individuals left. There were no more than 20 pandas left in the zoos of the world...

The giant panda, as a rare, endangered animal, was listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. For conservation purposes biological diversity There were two banks of frozen cells of endangered animal species on the planet: in Texas medical center and at the San Diego Zoo (as of 1985). The main attention should be paid to the protection of bamboo forests as the main habitat of the panda. It is necessary to selectively improve the structure of plants so that the death of bamboo does not occur throughout the entire forest area simultaneously.

Panda Rescue 2: Anti-Poaching

The Chinese government has declared the panda a national treasure and has established the death penalty for poaching it in the wild. However, even such strict measures cannot counter the desire of local residents to make profit from catching a panda.

According to conservation experts, unless strict controls on poaching and habitat destruction of giant pandas are introduced in the near future, they will have little chance of surviving in the wild. As of 1995, there were only 700 to 1000 individuals.

George Schaller, scientific director International organization Conservationist of the New York branch of the Zoological Society, bitterly noted: “Over the past 15-20 years, at least 40 percent of panda habitats have been destroyed, but poaching remains the most serious problem.” Panda skins are so highly valued in Taiwan and Japan that people are not afraid of the death penalty for killing this animal: selling two or three panda skins allows you to live comfortably for several years!

Rescue panda-3: People, be more attentive to us!

International Wildlife magazine in 1995 reported on a number of factors that have completely stymied captive panda breeding: bureaucracy among the management of Chinese reserves and poor management of them, a lack of communication and understanding between scientists involved in the study of pandas.

For many rare animals, zoos remain the only chance to survive. However, the best content, the most delicious piece of food will still be a pitiful handout for the animals. “Life in a cage” itself provokes an angry protest from progressive humane societies in defense of wildlife.

In 2002, China's oldest panda (Changdong Provincial Zoo) died. She was 36 years old, in human age - 75-80 years old. A favorite of visitors, the female named Changzang weighed 114 kilograms and loved cinnamon rolls and milk. The daily diet consisted of 15 kilograms of bamboo leaves. The animal developed problems with the lungs and esophagus. The provincial authorities, after a touching farewell to the deceased panda by hundreds of Chinese, decided to perpetuate its memory: a stuffed animal was made and sent to the animal’s homeland - the Hansa province.

In 2006, which became the Year of the Panda in China, 30 pandas were born. A pleasant event for local scientists!

Against the backdrop of some people’s passion for artificial teddy bears “Teddy”, I frankly feel sorry for the real “bears” - a koala from Australia and a panda from China. There are currently about 1,000 pandas in China. Limited quantity Pandas are found in zoos around the world, but it is not yet possible to produce offspring in captivity. This is another mystery of the amazing bamboo bear, and unsolved by people even by the beginning of the new millennium.

Elena Konkova, Moscow

We all know very well about the existence of the famous cartoon about a clumsy, lazy and always hungry panda named Po “Kung Fu Panda”. However, along with these qualities, Poe also has courage, friendliness and sensuality. Are real bamboo panda bears actually like that?

Origin of the Bamboo Bear

The history of the bamboo spotted bear, or rather the history of the giant panda, begins in ancient China. There, giant pandas were considered a symbol of peace and friendship. Later, in the 19th century, people learned about the panda outside of China. The French Lazarist missionary Armand David, who lived and worked in China for most of his life, collecting material about the animal world, learns about it. Having found the skin of a bamboo bear, David became interested in the find. He sends the bear skin to Paris (Museum of Natural History), and he continues to search for the owner of such an interesting color of the skin. In Paris, the skin of a black and white bear was initially accepted as a high-quality fabric, or at least that’s what it looked like. However, after lengthy checks and examinations, it was clear that this fabric was not sewn and was still the skin of a killed bear.

Arman David managed to find the bear carcass from the local hunters, who told the story about the prey bear. Materials sent by David later (a report on the hunters’ story, a skeleton and skin of a panda) served as the beginning common name pandas. The panda was originally nicknamed the bamboo bear because... outwardly there was a great similarity with ordinary bears and the panda’s food quality was mainly bamboo. A little later the name changed. According to zoologists, the new animal was nicknamed big panda (red panda was already discovered a little earlier by zoologists), classifying the bear as a member of the raccoon family due to its great similarity to animals of this family.

The name bamboo bear soon became familiar to this day.

It is known that the first panda caught alive (1916) did not live long in captivity. After some time, the young panda is brought to the states. After World War II, the places where these rare bears live were declared nature reserves. Only after this did researchers begin to carefully study pandas to find out how they could survive in captivity.

Big panda. Description

The panda's massive body, which reaches an average height of 1.65m, is covered with thick white fur with black spots. The weight of a panda can reach up to 160 kg maximum. Males usually weigh 10% more than females. The unusual six-toed front paws of the bamboo bear make it possible to handle bamboo with ease, because... As already mentioned above, bamboo is the main food of the panda. The hind legs are thicker than the front legs and have sharp claws; the feet are short, but when walking they do not fully rest on the ground. Giant panda has long tail compared to ordinary bears. This “giant raccoon” has 40 teeth in order to break hard bamboo and chew it with ease. The terrestrial animal is excellent at climbing trees. In case of danger, it can roll head over heels down a slope, which gives an excellent head start when running.

Where do pandas live? The giant panda is a heat-loving animal, so when low temperatures appear winter temperature, immediately descends from the heights. However, lower than 800m above sea level, the bamboo bear cannot be found. They live in dense bamboo forests, where humans usually do not set foot. The giant panda is not looking for housing permanent place residence. Therefore, it chooses its lair in hollow tree trunks and caves.

What do pandas eat? The giant panda's diet consists mainly of vegetarian food. Although the panda is a predator. Having found a juicy young shoot of bamboo, the bear immediately begins to crush and absorb the tough fibrous food with its powerful jaw. Bamboo is also the main carrier of water, which is so necessary for the panda. The giant panda gets most of its water from rivers and passing streams. fresh water. However, bamboo lovers (in the life of a panda, eating bamboo predominates 99%) will also like other goodies. So, for example, predators by nature, bamboo bears can feed on small rodents and small animals that they catch; various bulbs, including iris and saffron bulbs; all kinds of succulent herbs; insects and even carrion.

The panda leads a predominantly solitary lifestyle, in the company of other bamboo bears; they can only be seen during the period of mating and raising their offspring.

Birth. Offspring. Panda cubs

The mating period of the bamboo bear can be considered the time from March to May (once a year). During this period, the giant panda is looking for a mate. It is then that the females smell the glands more clearly, they become noisy and thus call for males. Until mating begins, several males fight among themselves for the honor of the female. When mating has occurred, the animals calm down and continue to live their solitary lives.

The female's pregnancy lasts 90-165 days from the day of mating. After this period, the female finds a quiet place in a hollow tree or cave, prepares a place for birth, covering it with leaves and grass. A giant panda cub is born very small and naked, often even premature. Therefore, panda cubs often do not survive after birth. Bye little panda grows, the female cannot give birth to another one until it matures. Therefore, after 2-3 years, when the giant panda cub becomes independent, the female giant panda begins a new search for the representative of the stronger sex, the bamboo bear.

Only after 6 years do panda cubs become mature in terms of maturation and can create their own offspring.

Pandas can reproduce in captivity, but less often and with more frequent deaths of cubs. This is due to many factors, most of which scientists have not found an explanation for. The reason for this is the hidden existence of life. IN modern world For a giant panda that has grown up and lives in captivity, certain conditions are selected in order to trace the behavior and future development of the animal.

Big panda. Animal listed in the Red Book

The giant panda is the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund - the symbol of WWF. The animal is one of the rarest, therefore it is listed in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red Book.

The disappearance of this species of mammal from the face of the planet suggests that all life on the planet must be known according to its life course. Any intrusion into an animal’s personal habitat leads to various consequences. The giant panda is an example of this. Cutting down bamboo - the panda's main food, poaching - is punishable by life imprisonment, and much more, which can lead to irreversible consequences in the life of a giant panda.

The giant panda has another name - bamboo bear. This mammal belongs to the bear family, but has some characteristics of raccoons. Lives in China and is its official symbol. This is one of the endangered animals; the panda is listed in the Red Book. Now only about 1,600 individuals live in natural conditions, and the same number are in zoos.

Panda

Beautiful legend

The charming black and white bear cub has earned fame and love all over the world. In China there is ancient legend, which explains the panda's coloring.

According to this legend, once upon a time, a family of shepherds settled on the slopes of the mountains. Every day, the shepherds took a flock of sheep to the pasture, where a little panda came to play with them. But one day a leopard attacked the sheep. The sheep ran away, but the little bear cub could not run fast and did not have time to hide. And he could not escape death. But the young shepherdess took a stick and drove the leopard away from the little bear cub, and she herself died from the claws terrible beast. Having learned about this, the pandas began to cry and sprinkled themselves with ashes as a sign of mourning for the brave girl. Wiping away tears, they left black spots on their snow-white skin. Since then, the panda skin has been a mourning for the dead girl.

Characteristics of a panda

The anatomy of pandas is unique, as it contains characteristics of both the bear and raccoon families. The classification of these animals was accompanied by controversy among scientists. After much research, they determined that giant pandas are bears.

Is a panda a raccoon or a bear?

Externally, a panda looks like a bear. Unlike ordinary bears, it has a different paw structure and a tail about 12 cm long. Pandas have a unique color - the main color of the fur is white, with black ears, legs and shoulders, and black spots near the eyes, creating the effect of glasses. All this combined with a cute face makes the panda look like a big teddy bear.

The structure of the panda's paw is “grasping”. This helps animals climb high into trees. They do this for different purposes - in search of food, to survey the surroundings, just to play or relax, lying on the branches.

Panda eats

These animals live in dense bamboo thickets, which serve them as food and shelter. Young bamboo stems and leaves are the main food of pandas. They hold the bamboo stem in their paw using the so-called “sixth finger,” which is opposed to the others. In fact, it is not a finger, it is a growth on one of the bones of the paw. With its help, pandas can hold objects in their paws, successfully climb trees, grab branches and perform other actions that are inaccessible to ordinary bears.

The menu of these animals consists almost 100% of bamboo. Leaves and young shoots are eaten, but not of all types of bamboo, but only 10-15 out of 300 growing in China. A panda can eat 14 hours a day, and during this time eats about 20 kilograms of food.

Relationship between people and animals

These are extremely peaceful animals; they never attack humans. In ancient books, the panda is called a symbol of peace, since it does not kill living creatures. But there are very few of them left in the world, and the reason for this is man. People, in pursuit of profit, exterminated these charming bears for the sake of valuable skins, cut down bamboo forests, thereby depriving not only pandas of food and housing, but also other animals.

Panda on the symbol of the WWT organization

Nowadays people are thinking about this problem. China has introduced the death penalty for killing or harming pandas. The habitats of pandas have been declared protected areas, and zoos around the world preserve and increase the number of these animals.

It’s just a pity that people, for the sake of profit, without thinking, disturb the natural balance, only to then restore it with great difficulty and expense.

In your opinion, which animal is the most harmless and cutest? To me, it's a panda. You look at them and want to immediately hug and caress them. They are like little children, you want to play and have fun with them. When I saw this animal for the first time, I fell in love with it forever.

Giant panda

Although pandas belong to the bear family, appearance and the behavior of this animal seems to deny this. The panda has an interesting black and white coloring. The body is covered with thick white fur, there are black circles around the eyes, and the ears and paws are also painted black. The panda has many differences from other bears, one of them is its long tail, about 15 cm. The main product in the panda's diet is bamboo. An adult can consume about 30 kg per day. But like all bears, the panda is a carnivorous animal, and its diet also includes foods such as:

eggs;
small animals and birds;
insects.

Pandas resort to such food in case of lack of protein in the body.

Panda habitat

The homeland and the only place on the planet where animals are in the wild is located in the mountainous regions of China, Tibet and Sichuan. The panda can also be found in zoos in Europe, the USA, Japan and China. In zoos, these animals are a highlight; people pay a lot of money to pet them and take pictures with them. And zoo workers compete for the right to be their observers. Interestingly, the giant panda is the only species of panda that belongs to the bear family and not the panda family!

These animals also know how to roll down slides, curled up into a ball. Many people think that these are games, but they are not! In the wild, animals protect themselves from predators in a similar way by running away from them. Although we consider the panda to be a friendly animal, it is worth remembering that it is first and foremost a predator. In the Beijing Zhang Zoo, at least three cases of attacks by these animals were recorded, of course, due to human fault! But the fact remains a fact.

I, like many women, sometimes look like a panda when I take off my eye makeup. Here's what a panda would look like if the black circles around its eyes could be removed.

Funny and still cute!

The giant panda is an unusual, rare and very cute animal. It will not be an exaggeration to say that not a single animal has conquered the hearts of people as much as these cute, clumsy and cozy animals. Pandas are the favorites of children, zoo employees, photojournalists, toy manufacturers... And, perhaps, no other animal has so attracted the attention of scientists and posed so many mysteries for naturalists.

The giant panda is also called the giant panda, bamboo bear, Tibetan mountain bear, spotted bear.

The appearance of the giant panda to the world

The world learned of the existence of giant pandas in the wild mountains of western China in 1869. It was then that the French missionary and naturalist Father Jean Pierre Armand David presented the skin and skeleton of the mysterious animal to his compatriot scientists. The beast belonged to a completely new species, which Father David called Ursus melanoleucus, that is, “black and white bear.” However, the scientific minds of France drew attention to the similarity of the skeleton and skin of an unprecedented animal with the skeleton and skin of another, rather small animal living in the same places - with the red panda, which in appearance resembles a cross between a fox and a raccoon, although the raccoon-like body, stripes on the face and the long, ringed tail shows with whom her ancestors were closely related.

And decades after this discovery, a new animal was named the giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca), remained mysterious and practically unstudied, and due to the inaccessibility of its habitats, it remained an extremely tempting trophy not only for naturalists, but also for hunters. It was not until 1928 that Theodore Roosevelt Jr.'s expedition managed to track down and shoot a panda.

After these events, a real hunt for the mysterious beast began - museums, in pursuit of fame and wealth, equipped expeditions to acquire a stuffed animal of a new animal. In 1936, New York fashion designer Ruth Harkness returned home with a particularly enviable trophy - a live panda cub! The baby was named Su-Lin. Following Ruth's example, other hunters also began bringing spotted bears to major zoos, and western world literally obsessed with pandas.

After the Second World War, Mei-Mei, Ming, Grumpy, Sonya, Grandma, Pan-Di, Pan-Da, Pin-Ping, Chi-Chi, An-An, Li-Li were held captive in zoos. And in 1972, Ling-Ling and Qing-Qing arrived at the Washington Zoo - a gift from the Chinese US government. There was no end to visitors to the zoos - everyone wanted to admire the funny antics of the overseas miracle bears, and meanwhile experts were collecting information to create a picture of the giant panda’s natural habitat.

And yet it's a bear

Today there are six in the world: brown, white, spectacled, Malayan, sloth and giant panda.

Scientists for a long time There was debate about which family the giant panda should belong to - bears or raccoons, and only relatively recently was it recognized as a bear.

Accumulated evidence, including comparisons of blood proteins, indicates that the giant panda, although it branched off from the evolutionary tree on its own, is still much closer to the bear family than to raccoons.

Like bears, giant pandas are massive and slow-moving land animals, averaging 160 cm in length, weighing up to 140 kilograms, and, again like many bears, they are capable of climbing trees well. Short paws with sharp and long claws help them in this. On trees, bamboo bears hide from danger or sleep. Young individuals excel especially in the art of tree climbing.

The tail of a bamboo bear reaches 10-12 cm. The entire body of the animal is covered with thick fur. The peculiar black and white coloring still remains unexplained. Some scientists believe that under certain conditions, when playing chiaroscuro on winter snow white and black spots provide good camouflage. However, the panda has no dangerous enemies in her mountain refuge. Other scientists are of the opinion that such coloring makes animals more noticeable to the opposite sex (and pandas’ vision is poor), which is of great importance during the mating season.

All scientists agree that the giant panda is a special animal. Under natural conditions, it is found in a small range in the mountain forests of the Chinese province of Sichuan. There are also small local populations of these rare bears in the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi.

Conservation status

The panda is loved and appreciated not only for its touching appearance, magnificent black and white outfit, peaceful behavior and mysterious story life, but also for its rarity.

The growing population of China constantly required new territories for agriculture and timber, resulting in deforestation. Thus, from 1974 to 1989, the habitat of the bamboo bear in Sichuan province decreased by almost 50%. Giant pandas, forced out of the subtropical lowlands, survived only in high-mountain mixed broad-leaved and coniferous forests with an undergrowth of bamboo and forbs.

Since 1990, giant pandas have been classified as endangered. Fortunately, today their population is growing, and since 2016 they have been listed in the Red Book as “vulnerable” animals. So, if in 2004 there were 1,596 bamboo bears, then by 2014 there were already 1,864 (and this is 2 times more than in the late 1970s). Today, the panda is protected by the Wild Animal Protection Law, according to which the extermination of this animal is punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty. In 1992, a system of reserves was created in China, of which there are now 67, and 67% of all pandas in the world live here.

Panda - not only wild beast, but also a symbol. The image of this animal appears on the emblems of many firms and companies. This beast is the pride of China People's Republic, national symbol countries. The souvenir industry produces countless numbers of pandas, and artists depict them on canvas and silk. The bamboo bear is the animal that inspired Peter Scott (who came up with the idea for the Red Book) to create famous emblem World Wildlife Fund.

The inaccessibility and remoteness of the Himalayan refuge for giant pandas, as well as the measures taken by the state to protect them, protect the animals from the bullets of hunters. A bamboo curtain hides them from the eyes of inquisitive zoologists in these inhospitable mountains. That is why no one has yet been able to carry out any systematic observations of bamboo bears in their natural environment habitat. Most information about their habits and behavior is based on observations in zoos. Since there are very few pandas in captivity, the bamboo bear remains one of the most mysterious animals on our planet, since its study in zoos has so far not helped much in lifting the veil of secrecy.

Lifestyle of a giant panda

Pandas' habitats are rugged bamboo groves in the mountains at an altitude of 1200-3900 meters. The bear does not build a permanent den; sometimes it finds refuge in mountain caves or hollow tree trunks. A secluded place provides him with security and peace.

Pandas are not particularly favored by their relatives; each animal has its own territory and defends it as best it can. The individual territory of a male can reach an area of about 30 sq. km, of a female – 5-10 sq. km. A male's site usually overlaps that of several females.

This species is characterized by a solitary lifestyle, with the exception of the mating period. Pandas are active mainly at dusk and at night, and during the day they prefer to sleep in trees, curled up into a ball.

During waking hours, the main activity of pandas is feeding, and their main, and practically only, food is bamboo shoots. Bamboo makes up neither more nor less - 99% of the diet. In a year, an adult animal consumes up to 4.5 tons of bamboo! Not only succulent and young shoots are used, but also old woody stems - the animal grinds them with powerful jaws with powerful molars. The bear’s unique “sixth claw” - an elongated wrist bone with a fleshy pad - helps the bear hold the delicious stems in its paw. This bone has developed into something like an opposable thumb.

Look at the photo of a panda chewing bamboo - the animal is spread out, sits on its hind legs and methodically shoves stems into its mouth, grabbing them with its back teeth.

Every 30-100 years different types bamboos bloom and die. Pandas survive this by switching to different types of bamboo each time, but today the disappearance of suitable habitats has significantly reduced the choice of food items.

Bamboo is a monotonous and low-nutrient food, it is difficult for the body to digest, and therefore animals have to chew almost all their waking hours – 10-12 hours – while slowly moving through the bamboo thickets.

IN winter period pandas do not hibernate, although they become even slower.

Bamboo bears can make a wide variety of sounds, similar to bleating, barking, and beeping. They also squeak, grumble, moan and even chirp.

Pandas in the zoo. The animals began to fuss, although usually they pay almost no attention to each other, in full accordance with the solitary lifestyle characteristic of this species.

The fact that giant pandas are one of the most... rare species animals, can to some extent be explained by their very low birth rates. Females come into heat only once a year (around the end of March) and last no more than three to four days. 4-5 males can compete for one female.

As soon as mating has taken place, the animals return to their former measured and solitary lifestyle. Pregnancy lasts 100-150 days. Pandas are characterized by blastocyst implantation delayed by 1-3 months. Females give birth every 2-3 years, starting at the age of four

Before giving birth, the female finds refuge in a hollow tree or in a cave, gives birth to cubs and remains in the same place for about a month. Bamboo bears are completely helpless for newborns; they are one of the smallest (relative to the size of the mother) cubs in the animal world. They weigh no more than 150 grams, and grow extremely slowly, reaching the size of an adult only 4 years after birth!

The first fluff of newborns is completely white, and black spots appear on a white background only at one month of age.

This is how giant panda cubs are born.

If a panda gives birth to two (this happens in 60% of cases) or three (which happens very rarely) cubs, then she will take care of only one of the newborns, dooming the rest to starvation. The cub feeds on mother's milk for approximately 47 weeks, and then begins to switch to adult food, but can live with its mother for up to one and a half years. Becoming independent, some of the young individuals settle in an area that overlaps with the maternal one, while others move long distances.

Bamboo bears reach sexual maturity late, at the age of 4 to 8 years.

Zoo workers feed a baby

In captivity, pandas feel quite comfortable, but do not show a desire to continue their race, this is especially true for males. Widely publicized attempts to produce offspring from Chi-Chi, kept at the London Zoo, and An-An, at the Moscow Zoo, did not yield results. Experiments at the Beijing Zoo were more successful: at least two cubs were born there in captivity.

Since 1990, panda breeding in captivity, thanks to artificial insemination, has achieved great success. However, the population of bamboo bears in captivity is still not self-sufficient.