Giant Panda

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With some details on the Red Panda at the bottom, though the Giant Panda is more related to bears than racoons, & red panda, in reality, well that is the best theory in July 2007

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, "black-and-white cat-foot"; is a mammal classified in the bear family, Ursidae, native to central-western & southwestern China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, & across its round body. Though belonging to the order Carnivora, the panda has a diet which is 99% bamboo. Pandas may eat other foods such as honey, eggs, fish & yams.

The Giant Panda is an endangered animal; an estimated 2,000 pandas live in the wild & over 180 were reported to live in captivity by August 2006 in mainland China (another source by the end of 2006 put the figure for China at 221), with twenty pandas living outside of China. Reports show that the numbers of wild panda are on the rise.

The giant panda is a favorite of the human public, at least partly on account of the fact that the species has an appealing baby-like cuteness that makes it seem to resemble a living teddy bear. The fact that it is usually depicted reclining peacefully eating bamboo, as opposed to hunting, also adds to its image of innocence. Though the giant panda is often assumed docile because of their cuteness, they have been known to attack humans, usually assumed to be out of irritation rather than predatory behavior. Research shows that in cases in which its offspring may be under threat, the panda can & most often will react violently.

The giant panda is a living fossil.

Description
The Giant Panda has a very distinctive black-and-white coat. Adults measure around 1.5 m long & around 75 cm tall at the shoulder. Males can weigh up to 115 kg (253 pounds). Females are generally smaller than males, & can occasionally weigh up to 100 kg (220 pounds). Giant Pandas live in mountainous regions, such as Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, & Tibet. While the Chinese dragon has been historically a national emblem for China, since the latter half of the 20th century the Giant Panda has also become an informal national emblem for China. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold, & platinum coins.

The Giant Panda has an unusual paw, with a "thumb" & five fingers; the "thumb" is actually a modified sesamoid bone, which helps the panda to hold the bamboo while eating. Stephen Jay Gould wrote an essay about this, then used the title The Panda's Thumb for a book of essays concerned with evolution & intelligent design. The Giant Panda has a short tail, approximately 15 cm long. Giant Pandas can usually live to be 20-30 years old while living in captivity.

Behavior
Until recently, scientists thought giant pandas spent most of their lives alone, with males & females meeting only during the breeding season. Recent studies paint a different picture, in which small groups of pandas share a large territory & sometimes meet outside the breeding season.

Like most subtropical mammals, but unlike most bears, the giant panda does not hibernate.

Diet

Pandas eating bamboo at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.Despite its taxonomic classification as a carnivore, the panda has a diet that is primarily herbivorous, which consists almost exclusively of bamboo. However, pandas still have the digestive system of a carnivore & do not have the ability to digest cellulose efficiently, & thus derive little energy & little protein from consumption of bamboo. The average Giant Panda eats as much as 20 to 30 pounds of bamboo shoots a day. Because pandas consume a diet low in nutrition, it is important that they keep their digestive tract full.

As the average temperature of the region has increased, the panda has pushed its habitat to a higher altitude & limited available space. Furthermore, the timber profit gained from harvesting bamboo has destroyed a significant portion of the food supply for the wild panda. Because of all these elements the population of wild pandas decreased by 50 percent from 1973-1984 in six areas of Asia, all of them in China.

Twenty-five species of bamboo are eaten by pandas in the wild, but it is hard to live in the remains of a forest & feed on dying plants in a rugged landscape. Only a few bamboo species are widespread at the high altitudes pandas now inhabit. Bamboo leaves contain the highest protein levels; stems have less.

Because of the synchronous flowering, death, & regeneration of all bamboo within a species, pandas must have a least two different species available in their range to avoid starvation. The panda's round face is an adaptation to its bamboo diet. Their powerful jaw muscles attach from the top of the head to the jaw. Large molars crush & grind fibrous plant material. While primarily herbivorous, the panda still retains decidedly ursine teeth, & will eat meat, fish, & eggs when available. In captivity, zoos typically maintain the pandas' bamboo diet, though some will provide specially formulated biscuits or other dietary supplements.

Classification
For many decades the precise taxonomic classification of the panda was under debate as both the giant panda & the distantly related red panda share characteristics of both bears & raccoons. However, genetic testing suggests that giant pandas are true bears & part of the Ursidae family, though they differentiated early in history from the main ursine stock. The giant panda's closest ursine relative is the Spectacled Bear of South America. (Disagreement still remains about whether or not the red panda belongs in Ursidae, the raccoon family Procyonidae, or in its own family, Ailuridae.)

The red panda & ther giant panda, although completly different in appearance, share several features. They both live in the same habitat, they both live on a similar bamboo diet & they both share a unique enlarged bone called the pseudo thumb, which allows them to grip the bamboo shoots they eat.

Subspecies
Hua Mei, the baby panda born at the San Diego Zoo in 1999 Two subspecies of giant panda have been recognized on the basis of distinct cranial measurements, color patterns, & population genetics (Wan et al., 2005).

Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca consists of most extant populations of panda. These animals are principally found in Sichuan & display the typical stark black & white contrasting colors.

Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis is restricted to the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi at elevations of 1300–3000 m. The typical black & white pattern of Sichuan Pandas is replaced with a dark brown versus light brown pattern. The skull of A. m. qinlingensis is smaller than its relatives & it has larger molars.

Uses & human interaction
Unlike many other animals in ancient China, pandas were rarely thought to have medical uses. In the past, pandas were thought to be rare & noble creatures; the mother of Emperor Wen of Han was buried with a panda skull in her tomb. Emperor Taizong of Tang was said to have given Japan two pandas & a sheet of panda skin as a sign of goodwill.

The giant panda was first made known to the West in 1869 by the French missionary Armand David, who received a skin from a hunter on 11 March 1869. The first westerner known to have seen a living giant panda is the German zoologist Hugo Weigold, who purchased a cub in 1916. Kermit & Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., became the first foreigners to shoot a panda, on an expedition funded by the Field Museum of Natural History in the 1920s. In 1936, Ruth Harkness became the first Westerner to bring back a live giant panda, a cub named Su-Lin who went to live at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. These activities were halted in 1937 because of wars; & for the next half of the century, the West knew little of pandas.

Panda diplomacy
Loans of giant pandas to American & Japanese zoos formed an important part of the diplomacy of the People's Republic of China in the 1970s as it marked some of the first cultural exchanges between the PRC & the West. This practice has been termed "Panda Diplomacy".

By the year 1984, however, pandas were no longer used as agents of diplomacy. Instead, China began to offer pandas to other nations only on 10-year loans. The standard loan terms include a fee of up to US$ 1,000,000 per year & a provision that any cubs born during the loan are the property of the People's Republic of China. Since 1998, due to a WWF lawsuit, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service only allows a U.S. zoo to import a panda if the zoo can ensure that China will channel more than half of its loan fee into conservation efforts for wild pandas & their habitat.

In May 2005, the People's Republic of China offered Taiwan (Republic of China) two pandas as a gift. This proposed gift was met by polarized opinions from Taiwan due to complications stemming from cross-strait relations. So far Taiwan has not accepted the offer.

Conservation
Giant pandas are an endangered species, threatened by continued habitat loss & by a very low birthrate, both in the wild & in captivity.

Pandas have been a target for poaching by locals since ancient times & by foreigners since they were introduced to the West. Starting in the 1930s, foreigners were unable to poach pandas in China because of the Second Sino-Japanese War & the Chinese Civil War, but pandas remained a source of soft furs for the locals. The population boom in China after 1949 created stress on the pandas' habitat, & the subsequent famines led to the increased hunting of wildlife, including pandas. During the Cultural Revolution, all studies & conservation activities on the pandas were stopped. After the Chinese economic reform, demands for panda skin from Hong Kong & Japan led to illegal poaching for the black market, acts generally ignored by the local officials at the time.

Close up of a baby 7-month old panda cub in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China.Though the Wolong National Nature Reserve was set up by the PRC government in 1958 to save the declining pandas, few advances in the conservation of pandas were made, due to inexperience & insufficient knowledge in ecology. Many believed that the best way to save the pandas was to cage them, & as a result, the pandas were caged for any sign of decline, & they suffered from terrible conditions. Because of pollution & destruction of their natural habitat, along with segregation due to caging, reproduction of wild pandas was severely limited. In the 1990s, however, several laws (including gun controls & moving residents out of the reserves) helped the chances of survival for pandas. With the ensued efforts & improved conservation methods, wild pandas have started to increase in numbers in some areas, even though they still are classified as a rare species.

In 2006, scientists reported that the number of pandas living in the wild may have been underestimated at about 1,000. Previous population surveys had used conventional methods to estimate the size of the wild panda population, but using a new hi-tech method that analyzes DNA from panda droppings, scientists believed that the wild panda population may be as large as 3,000. Although the species is still endangered, it is thought that the conservation efforts are working. As of 2006, there were 40 panda reserves in China, compared to just 13 reserves two decades ago.

Giant pandas are among the world's most adored & protected rare animals, & is one of the few in the world whose natural inhabitant status was able to gain a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, located in the southwest Sichuan province & covering 7 natural reserves, was inscribed onto the World Heritage List in 2006.

Reproduction
Contrary to popular belief, Giant pandas do not reproduce slowly. Studies have shown that wild pandas reproduce as well as North American brown bears. A female panda may have 2-3 cubs in a lifetime, on average. Growth is slow & pandas may not reach sexual maturity until they are five to seven years old. The mating season usually takes place from mid-March to mid-May. During this time, two to five males can compete for one female; the male with the highest rank gets the female. When mating, the female is in a crouching, head-down position as the male mounts from behind. Copulation time is short, ranging from thirty seconds to five minutes, but the male may mount repeatedly to ensure successful fertilization.

The whole gestation period ranges from 83 to 163 days, with 135 days being the average. Baby pandas weigh only 90 to 130 grams (3.2 to 4.6 ounces), which is about 1/900th of the mother’s weight. Usually, the female panda gives birth to one or two panda cubs. Since baby pandas are born very small & helpless, they need the mother’s undivided attention, so she is able to care for only one of her cubs. She usually abandons one of her cubs, & it dies soon after birth. At this time, scientists do not know how the female chooses which cub to raise, & this is a topic of ongoing research. The father has no part in helping with raising the cub.

When the cub is first born, it is pink, furless & blind. It nurses from its mother's breast 6–14 times a day for up to 30 minutes each time. For three to four hours, the mother might leave the den to feed, which leaves the panda cub defenseless. One to two weeks after birth, the cub's skin turns gray where its hair will eventually become black. A slight pink color may appear on the panda's fur, as a result of a chemical reaction between the fur & its mother's saliva. A month after birth, the color pattern of the cub’s fur is fully developed. A cub's fur is very soft & coarsens with age. The cub begins to crawl at 75 to 90 days & the mothers play with their cubs by rolling & wrestling with them. The cubs are able to eat small quantities of bamboo after six months, though mother's milk remains the primary food source for most of the first year. Giant panda cubs weigh 45 kg (99.2 pounds) at one year & live with their mother until they are 18 months to two years old. The interval between births in the wild is generally two years.

Breeders & biologists often experience difficulty in inducing captive pandas to mate, threatening their already diminished population. This problem may stem from the captive bears' lack of experience. In an attempt to remedy this, some keepers in China & Thailand have shown their subjects videos containing footage of mating pandas. In some cases, the bears have been sufficiently stimulated from the videos to engage in reproductive activity. It is not likely that the animals actually learn mating behaviors from the video; rather, scientists believe that hearing the associated sounds has a stimulating effect on the bears exposed to it.

Name
The name "panda" originates with a Himalayan language, possibly Nepali. & as used in the West it was originally applied to the red panda, to which the giant panda was thought to be related. Until its relation to the red panda was discovered in 1901, the giant panda was known as Mottled Bear (Ailuropus melanoleucus) or Particolored Bear.

The Chinese language name for the giant panda, ???, literally translates to "large bear cat", or just "bear cat" (??).

Most bears' eyes have round pupils. The exception is the giant panda, whose pupils are vertical slits like cats' eyes. These unusual eyes, combined with its ability to effortlessly scale trees, are what inspired the Chinese to call the panda the "large bear cat".

Pandas in zoos

Panda in Moscow Zoo on 1964 Soviet Union 2 kopeks postal stampA 2006 New York Times article outlined the economics of keeping pandas, which costs five times more than that of the next most expensive animal, an elephant. American zoos must pay the Chinese government $2 million a year in fees, part of what is typically a ten-year contract. San Diego's contract with China is the first to expire, in 2008. The last contract in Memphis ends in 2013.

North America
As of early 2007, five major North American zoos have giant pandas:

San Diego Zoo, San Diego, California - home of Bai Yun (F), Gao Gao (M), Mei Sheng (M), & a female cub named Su Lin
US National Zoo, Washington, D.C. - home of Mei Xiang (F), Tian Tian (M), & a male cub named Tai Shan
Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia - home of Lun Lun (F), Yang Yang (M), & a female cub named Mei Lan (F)
Memphis Zoo, Memphis, Tennessee - home of Ya Ya (F) & Le Le (M)
Chapultepec Zoo, Mexico City - home of Shuan Shuan, Xin Xin, & Xi Hua, all females

Notable North American-born pandas
Tai Shan, born July 9, 2005 at the National Zoo in Washington.
Su Lin, born August 2, 2005 at the San Diego Zoo.
Mei Lan, born September 6, 2006 at Zoo Atlanta.

Europe

Two zoos in Europe show giant pandas:

Zoologischer Garten Berlin, Berlin, Germany - home of Bao Bao, age 27, the oldest male panda living in captivity; he has been in Berlin for 25 years & has never reproduced.
Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria - home to two pandas (a male & a female) born in Wolong, China in 2000.
London, Madrid, & Paris no longer have pandas, although Madrid is exploring the possibility of obtaining pandas in the future.

Asia
Chengdu Research base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, Sichuan, China - Home to a number of captive giant pandas, including 2-year old Xiong Bang (M), who just arrived from Japan. Twelve cubs were born here in 2006.
Wolong Giant Panda Protection & Research Center, Sichuan, China - Seventeen cubs were born here in 2006.
Chiang Mai Zoo, Chiang Mai, Thailand - home to Chuang Chuang (M) & Lin Hui (F). Much to the joy of the public, the two have recently been observed mating & it is hoped that cubs will be produced from the union.
Ocean Park, Hong Kong - home to Jia Jia (F) & An An (M) since 1999. Two further pandas named Le Le & Ying Ying are added to Ocean Park on April 26, 2007.
Pandas in Japan have double names: a Japanese name & a Chinese name. Three zoos in Japan show giant pandas:

Ueno Zoo, Tokyo - home of Ling Ling (M), he is the only panda with "Japanese citizenship".
Oji Zoo, Kobe, Hyogo - home of Kou Kou (M), Tan Tan (F)
Adventure World, Shirahama, Wakayama - Ei Mei (M), Mei Mei (F), Rau Hin (F), Ryu Hin & Syu Hin (male twins), & Kou Hin (M). Yu Hin (M) went to China in 2004. In December 2006, twin cubs were born to Ei Mei & Mei Mei.

Pandas on television
The first sequences of pandas in the wild were shot by Franz Camenzind for ABC in about 1982. They were bought by BBC Natural History Unit for their weekly magazine show Nature.

Recently NHNZ has featured pandas in two documentaries. Panda Nursery (2006) featured China’s Wolong Nature Reserve in the mountains in Sichuan Province, forty giant pandas & a dedicated team of staff play a crucial role in ensuring the survival of the species. As part of the Reserve’s panda breeding programme, a revolutionary new method of rearing twin cubs called ‘swap-raising’ has been developed. Each cub is raised by both its natural mother & one of the Reserve’s veterinarians, Wei Rongping, to increase the chances of both cubs surviving. Growing Up: Giant Panda (2003) featured Chengdu Giant Panda Center in south-west China as one of the best in the world. But with female pandas' short fertility cycles & low birth rates, raising the captive panda population is an uphill battle.

Pandas in popular culture

Pandas are a popular animal in eastern & western culture. In part due to their widely recognized cuteness, Pandas have often appeared in television programs, cartoons, & picture-books while their images have graced all manner of consumer products. For example:

Panda Express is the name of an American fast food chain that serves American Chinese cuisine. Panda Express' logo is a cartoon panda. Some franchises give donations to panda preservation groups.
The World Wide Fund for Nature logo is a stylized panda.
A panda named Jing Jing is one of the Friendlies, the mascots for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The Giant Panda is the most expensive animal in the game Zoo Tycoon & Zoo Tycoon 2, therefore making it the hardest to keep.
The Panda is the informal national animal of China.
The birth of a baby panda is a central plot point of the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).
Andy Panda was a series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz & released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1949.
In Mexico, gummy bears are often called "panditas" (little pandas), due to the most popular brand of gummy bears adopted as a generic name.

Red Panda

The Red Panda, Ailurus fulgens ("shining cat," from a Latinized form of the Greek a???????, ailouros, "cat," & the participial form of the Latin fulgere, "to shine") is a mostly herbivorous mammal, slightly larger than a domestic cat (55 cm long). The Red Panda has semi-retractile claws & , like the Giant Panda, has a "false thumb" which is really an extension of the wrist bone. Thick fur on the soles of the feet offers protection from cold & hides scent glands. The Red Panda is native to the Himalayas in India & Nepal & southern China.

This taxonomic classification of both the Red Panda & Giant Panda has been under debate for many decades, as both species share characteristics of both bears & raccoons. However, they are only very distantly related by remote common ancestry from the Early Tertiary Period. Its common ancestor can be traced back to tens of millions of years ago with a wide distribution across Eurasia. Fossils of the Red Panda have been unearthed from China in the east to Britain in the west (Hu, 1990), & most recently a handful of fossils (Pristinailurus bristoli, Miocene, considered to be a new genus & species of the Red Panda) have also been discovered in North America.

There are two extant subspecies of Red Panda: the Western Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens fulgens) that lives in the western part of its range, & the somewhat larger Styans Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens styani) that lives in the east-northeastern part of its range. The Western Red Panda has lighter pelage, especially in the face, while the Styans Red Panda has more dramatic facial markings. The effective population size in the Sichuan population is larger & more stable than that in the Yunnan population, implying a southward expansion from Sichuan to Yunnan.

The Red Panda is classified as an endangered species. There is an estimated population of less than 2,500 mature individuals & this number continues to decline due to severely fragmented populations.