On March 16, National Panda Day draws attention to one of the world’s unique bears. Pandas are also one of the world’s most endangered and adored animals. Conservationists and animal lovers alike spread the word about the increasing efforts of the international community dedicated to protecting and restoring habitats.
- 1869 – When a French missionary visits China, he is gifted with a skin from one of these fuzzy black and white bears
- 1929 – The Roosevelt brothers become the first foreigners to shoot a panda.
- 1957 – A total of 24 pandas are given to foreign countries from China as gestures of peace.
- 1961 – The World Wide Fund for Nature was formed, creating their logo around the Panda
- 1972 – The Smithsonian National Zoo’s first pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were a gift from Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to the American people in 1972 after First Lady Patricia Nixon mentioned how much she loved them at a dinner in Beijing, China, earlier that year. Panda Cam
- 1984 – Native to China, these bears are beloved by people all over the world, but their low reproductive rate makes them vulnerable to threats and even the possibility of extinction. Placing them as endangered is meant to protect Pandas.
- 1985 – A much smaller, brown subspecies of panda, was discovered in 1985 in the mountain ranges of the southern Shaanxi Province in China. In the wilderness, giant pandas live only in the remote, mountainous regions of China.
- 1999 – The Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s giant panda Hsing-Hsing died at age 28 in 1999.
- 2000 – Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the Zoo’s adult panda pair, arrived in 2000.
- 2006 – Over just the eight years prior, the number of Panda reserves in China grows from 13 to 40. This significantly impacts the ability of Pandas to survive in their natural habitat and improves their chances greatly
- 2015 – The State Forestry Administration released the results of the Fourth National Giant Panda Survey, showing the population of wild giant pandas had increased by 268 to 1,864 over the last decade.
- 2019 – due to rapidly growing population numbers, the status of pandas was upgraded from “endangered” species to “vulnerable” species.
- 2020 – due to the reproduction efforts in zoos, reforestation and conservation campaigns, pandas are considered “vulnerable” to extinction.
- Native to China, giant pandas are members of the Bear (Ursidae) family. Their rapidly shrinking habitat is a major cause for concern. As an endangered species, successful panda breeding programs are rare. In the wild, there are approximately only 1,864 (according to the World Wide Fund for Nature) and 100 live in zoos around the world.
- Giant pandas are good at climbing trees and can swim.
- Giant pandas reach breeding maturity between 4 and 8 years old. They can have offspring until their early 20s.
- Panda pregnancies last between 90 and 180 days, with an average pregnancy lasting 135 days.
- Male pandas are not involved in the care of their cubs. Fathers and their cubs may never encounter each other in the wild.
- Pandas are born looking like baby badgers — fur-less, pink, and blind. The iconic black and white color comes later, after about three weeks.
- Not all giant pandas are black and white! A few are brown and white, but these are very rare.
- An adult can eat 26.4 lbs – 83.7 lbs of bamboo per day!
- A panda can poop 61.7 lbs per day!
- Pandas have 6 toes to grasp bamboo.
- Newborn pandas are blind. They start to see around 6 weeks old. Throughout their lives, they rely on spatial memory more than visual memory.
- The giant panda’s scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca, which means “black and white cat food”.
- Instead of sleeping through the night, wild pandas take naps after eating that last two to four hours. In the summertime, they can nap for six or more hours. They don’t care about the position they sleep in, either. They can snooze on their backs, sides, or bellies; curled up in a ball; or all sprawled out.
- Adult pandas don’t spend much time interacting with each other, and they’re generally quiet animals. However, they do occasionally communicate through scent marks, squeaking, barking, growling, or huffing.
- Male pandas are called boars. Female pandas are called sows. Their young are known as cubs.
- The fur is patterned to break up its outline as camouflage in forests to protect itself.
- Their fur is also waterproof.
- Pandas are shy and solitary creatures.
- The Giant Panda lives in mountain forests of southwest China, usually in the Gansu, Shanxi and Sichuan provinces.
- They are symbols of peace in China.
- The Giant Panda’s closest relation is the Red Panda.
- Panda bears also forage for certain kinds of vegetables and grains. They will also eat eggs and small animals like carnivores do. Perhaps the most surprising thing they eat is carrion.
- The panda has been around for almost 20 million years and is the oldest living species of bear.
- Female pandas give birth to one or two cubs every two years. Cubs stay with their mothers for 18 months before venturing off on their own!
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