Pandas are common in the mountainous regions of central China, inhabiting temperate coniferous and deciduous forests. The Chinese call these animals "cat bears". The common name for a panda is a bamboo or spotted bear.
"Teddy bears
The word "panda" from the Chinese language is translated as "bear-cat". The panda is called a cute bear: charming and cute appearance makes this animal look like a teddy bear. Pandas differ from their Russian brown relative by their small size and rather exotic black-and-white coat coloring. These bears reach a length of 1.5 meters and weigh about 150 kilograms. Zoologists distinguish between small and large pandas. Incidentally, the latter were discovered in 1927, when naturalists first discovered a giant black and white bear in China. Curiously, according to zoologists, giant pandas are more anatomically similar to raccoons than to bears.
Family matters
Pandas are born very young - up to 15 centimeters in length. Their mother carefully looks after her offspring until her “kids” learn to travel on their own. By the age of 7-9 months, the cubs are already starting to feed on bamboo. The offspring period lasts about 18 months. After this time, young spotted bears leave the "parental home" (den), starting to live independently of their parents.
From herbivore to carnivore - one step
The digestive system of these animals is very similar to that of carnivores, not herbivores. Despite this, pandas are almost always limited to bamboo in their diet. Curiously, their digestive system is unable to digest some of the plant's components at all, which leads to the fact that black and white bears have to eat a lot of bamboo leaves in order to cover their daily intake.
Endangered pandas
Unfortunately, spotted bears are endangered species and are listed in the Red Book. According to data from 2004, there were only 1,600 of these animals in the wild at that time. Currently, about 300 individuals are kept in nurseries, wildlife sanctuaries and reserves. Under Chinese law, poaching of giant pandas and smuggling their skins is punishable by life in prison and, in some cases, the death penalty. The danger of the extinction of these animals lies in other reasons, for example, due to the deforestation of forests in which pandas live.
Curious facts about pandas
These funny bears eat 12 hours a day. Unlike their congeners living in temperate climates, pandas do not hibernate at all. According to Chinese tradition, panda cubs born in nurseries are not allowed to give names until they are 100 days old. In China, these animals have been awarded the status of a national treasure. Not so long ago, the panda was listed in the Guinness Book of Records, receiving the title of the most attractive animal among rare species of animals.
