Name: Giant Panda

Name: Ailuropodidae

Description: The giant panda is a very large bear. This is also a mammal. The panda has eye patches that are black. The ears, legs, shoulders, legs, and nose are also black. The rest of the body is white. The forepaws have an extended pad on the sole. This helps in climbing and grasping bamboo. This bear has a body like a carnivore. Even though the panda is related to the bear family, his large head is a result of his vegetarian diet. The skull is to support larger teeth and larger chewing muscles. These are for chewing bamboo.

Length: The giant panda is approximately 1200 millimeters to 1500 millimeters.

Height: The giant panda is 700 millimeters to 800 millimeters.

Weight: The giant panda weighs a whopping 75 kilograms to 160 kilograms.

Where the Giant Panda Lives: The giant panda lives in Asia. The country it lives in is China.

What it Lives in: The giant panda lives in 3 isolated bamboo forests, located in China.

Reproduction: The mating season for the giant panda is March through May. Males call for the female and several males fight in order to mate with her. The male and females stay together for 1 to 3 days. Then they resume their own solitary lives. The gestation period is 97 to 165 days with the births occurring in August and September. Females build nests of twigs in trees or rock clefts. One or two cubs are usually born, but the female is known to have three too. The first born is usually raised, but the second is neglected. The cub is 75-100 grams at birth. The cub is blind, pink, and basically hairless. The eyes open after 45 days and the baby develops fairly quickly. At 5 months, the cub weighs 10 kilograms! 5 months is also the age to start eating bamboo. The females produce a maximum of one surviving cub per year, for the first is 18 months and dependent.

Diet: The giant panda eats bamboo, horsetail plants, pine bark, carcasses, and bamboo flowers. The giant panda can eat small animals but it cannot digest wood fiber.