Panda

 Giant Panda. It - bamboo bear (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Mammal raccoon family. Sometimes include family bear or panda with a small isolated family Ailuridae (Ailuropodidae). The only species of the genus. Externally very similar to the bear. The body length of 120-180 cm., Tail - about 12 cm. The trunk is massive, short limbs. From these bears different structure of the teeth and relatively long tail.

The fur is white, only the legs, the ends of the ears, around the eyes, the tip of the tail, the band across the shoulders - black.

Common in China (Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and eastern slopes of the Tibetan Plateau), previously lived in Indochina and the island of Borneo, in the mountainous bamboo forests.

Cubs 1-2. Eats shoots and roots of bamboo. Which began in the 70s of the 20th century monocarpic species of bamboo flowering and death in giant panda habitats have reduced its numbers (at the beginning of the 1980s - up to 1000 individuals).

In China Giant Panda declared a national treasure. In the IUCN Red List. In captivity, breeds rare.


Giant Panda (class of mammals, order Carnivora, family raccoon, panda subfamily).

Giant Panda - Ailuropoda melanoleuca. This medvedeobraznoe animal has long been considered a "giant raccoon" because of the general anatomical features with a small panda (counts raccoon unconditionally). However, simple Chinese peasants, has long been called giant panda "polar bear" (in Chinese - Bay Shuang) or "bamboo bear", were closer to the truth than the venerable scientists systematics, only recently figured out that most of the panda - still bear . As, however, and red panda.

Giant Panda certainly more akin to a real bear than raccoons and even a small panda. If we imagine a branch of predators, leading to the typical modern bears, the first "fork" in it will be raccoons, the second - red panda, the third - the big panda, and only then - the branch leading to walruses, sea lions and fur seals. However, perhaps the most modern panda bears closer to the spectacled bear - a representative of the family of American Short-faced bear.