The Great Panda

The monstrosity coon experience, which lives only in China outside of captivity, has captu personnel casualty the hearts of people of in all ages across the globe. From their furry black and white body to their shy and gentle nature, they atomic number 18 conside bolshy one of the most effd animals. ? Quick Fact The estimated routine of colossus lesser pandas in the wild varies between 1,500 and 3,000. Intriguing freak coon bear Mysteries While most adore their fluffy fur and round head, which divine service give them their cuddly bear quality, others are fascinated by the many another(prenominal) mysteries of the titan panda.Did you know that a giant panda may very be a raccoon, they live with an apposable dissimulator thumb, and theyre technically a carnivore even though their diet is primarily vegetarian? These things and more lay down baffled scientists and naturalists for hund deprivations of years. Opposable Pseudo Thumb A characteristic of the giant panda th at has mystified scientists is their movable, elongated wrist bone that acts wish well an opposable thumb. This human-like quality that helps give them an even more cuddly-bear appearance enables the giant panda to pick up objects and even exhaust sitting up.Quick Fact Giant pandas have five clawed toes and one pseudo thumb. Their pseudo thumb, on with pads of skin, help the giant panda strip the more nutritious junior-grade bamboo shoots and leaves slice they hold the stalk in their mouth. Small Bear or Large Raccoon? Giant pandas are generally referred to as bears and are typically called panda bears rather than giant pandas. Though we may think back they look like bears, there has been a great deal of word of honor for decades about where giant pandas actually fit in the animal kingdom.Much of the parameter has been whether they are more closely related to the red panda, once estimation to be a member of the raccoon family, than the bear family. While a giant panda has a body that resembles a keen bear and climbs trees like a bear, it also has several characteristics in common with the red panda. For example, both giant pandas and red pandas eat bamboo and have the same pseudo thumb. The table below lists the main characteristics the giant panda shares with the bear and red panda.Cat-like features While the body of a giant panda looks like that of a bear and the dark circles around its eyes resemble those of a red panda or raccoon, its pupils have vertical slits like the eyes of a cat. DNA results DNA analysis has put one mystery to rest. It has revealed that while the red panda is a distant sexual congress, the giant pandas closest relative is the spectacled bear from South America. Mostly Vegetarian Diet Giant pandas love bambooIn fact, their diet is 99% bamboo. Along with bamboo, they eat other plants, small rodents, and occasionally fish. The mystery behind their diet is they have the digestive arrangement of a carnivore. ? Their ability to digest bamboo is attributed to tiny microbes that live within their digestive system. Since they can only digest about 20% of what they eat, the average giant panda consumes around 14 kilograms (30 pounds) of bamboo a day. In comparison, humans eat about 2 kilograms (5 pounds) of food a day. This enormous diet heart and soul the giant panda spends more than 12 hours a day consume to stay nourished.Quick Fact As the seasons change, the giant panda prefers different species and split of bamboo. Tiny Cubs An infant giant panda cub is about the coat of a croissant, weighs less than a coffee cup, and is about 900 times littler than its mother. An average adult mother weighs around 91 kilograms (200 pounds) while a newborn weighs only 83 to 190 grams (3 to 4 ounces). Other looseness Giant Panda Facts Researchers have recently discovered the gene amenable for tasting savory or umami flavors, such as meat, is inactive in giant pandas.For many centuries, giant pandas were thought to be a fab creature, similar to a dragon or unicorn. Unlike other bears in the region, giant pandas dont hibernate. Giant pandas can stand just on their hind legs but rarely walk. The Qinling panda, another giant panda species with a dark brown and light brown coat, lives only in the mountains of Shaanxi. Giant pandas have very sensitive hearing and smell, but they have poor eyesight. A newborn giant panda is blind and looks like a tiny, pink, hairless mouse.