Panda Facts

February 7, 2012 | In: Animal facts for kids

Probably the cutest animal in the world. A lot of people think that the panda bear is a little, fluffy, black & white, friendly bear. But the facts tell as that the truth is not that friendly.

The Giant Panda, as the specie is formally named is an endangered omnivore mammal, that can live up to 20 years in the wild. It can weigh up to 300 lbs(136 kg) and its size can be related to a 6 ft man.

Most of the videos that we see about pandas are showing the bear having a feast, with its hind legs stretched before it and sitting in a very relaxed posture. That is because they have an insatiable desire for food, especially for bamboo sticks, but they won’t say no to birds or rodents. That may suggest that they are sedentary animals, but looks may deceive. The pandas are very good climbers and very efficient swimmers. Almost half of the day, the pandas eat. In this 12 hour period it is likely to ingurgitate over 30 lbs of bamboo to satisfy its daily needs.

Wild pandas live only in China, especially on the Central Mountain Range, also known as the Chungyang Range, full of wet and cool forests, exactly as the bears like it. Panda climb as high as 13000- 14000 ft(4000- 4300m) on summer, in search of low  temperature.
Sadly, there are only about one thousand giant pandas left in the wild. Only the most fortunate Zoos keep such kind of animals. All over the world, there are approximately 100 panda bears living in captivity and the Zoo keepers say it is not an easy thing to breed pandas.

Let’s hope for the better.