Are You a Panda Lover? — 15 Life Truths of Panda Only For You
One of the Cutest Animal on Current Earth
Who doesn’t love giant pandas? Black & white furred body, black ears, black patches on eyes all appeal to adore them. Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are a kind of bear. They possess a distinctive type of life cycle, food habit, habitat than some other animals.
Here are 15 pieces of information details of pandas:
1. Baby Panda
The average weight of a newborn panda is about 90–130g. The panda cub is one of the smallest babies of mammals that is extremely smaller than its mother. The fact is that their pregnancy occurs at the time Of Winter hibernation. Mother depends on the deposited fat of their body for supplication and stays away from foods and drinks. The fetus grows breaking the fat of its mother. A mother panda is 900 times bigger than her baby. Cub turns from baby pink to black and white color. Some pandas turn to brown too.
2. Pregnancy of Mommy Panda
A male and female panda usually associate for 2 to 4 days. The fertilized egg floats in the uterus. 1 cub is born every 2 years. Thus their production rate is very low. Additionally, cub bearing period of a female panda lasts for about 10 years.
3. Pregnancy Length
The mating season of female panda occurs in spring. Generally, the months are March, April, May. The gestation length of the mommy panda varies from 90–180 days. The labor of a mother lasts three hours.
4. Period of Giving Birth
Baby pandas are born from July to September. The most probable month is August.
5. Number of Panda Cubs
In general, the mommy panda gives birth to a single cub. Though she gives twins too in captivity. Ironically, she chooses a single to grow and lefts the other one. The reason may be mother cannot provide enough milk to both.
Do you agree with this funny quote?
“Do you think pandas know they’re Chinese and they’re taking the one-child policy a bit too seriously?” ~ Jim Jefferies
6. Survival Rate
It’s beyond saying that, the survival rate of infant among pandas are very low. As a female giant panda gives birth to single or twins, she can raise only one child at a time. The other may be abandoned.
Sometimes infants are died due to their mothers’ heavy weight on them or lack of enough milk provided by mommy. The deficiency of secured habitat is also a reason.
7. Diet Habit
We often see giant pandas eat bamboos, right? Astonishingly, the diet of a panda is 99% of bamboo shoots and leaves. An adult panda spends 14 hours a day eating 12–38 kg of bamboo. Because of their marvelous sense of smell, they can find their favorite bamboo stick at once at midnight.
Sweeter fruits are a part of their food habit. Panda loves to eat apples most among fruits they are provided in captive.
8. Pandas Are Carnivores
It seems weird, no? Though pandas spend whole life eating bamboos, fruits, and veggies, they are carnivorous.
A research-based theory says, long ago since today, the ancestors of the giant panda were omnivores. They used to take both meat and plants, having such kind of gut bacteria possessing system in their body. After that, before 2 million years ago, their gene became inactive of umami test receptors. They became vegetarians.
9. Plantigrade Feet
A plantigrade foot is common in the primitive phage of mammals. Pandas possess this kind of foot. They help them to grasp bamboo as they have 6 toes. Interestingly, they are the only bear with thumbs among all.
10. Habitat of Panda
Giant pandas are the national treasure of China. They are found in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, in mountainous regions of southwest China. Generally, they love to live in cool and wet forests filled with bamboo. They are also found in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, UK, and many other countries.
In the USA, giant pandas are found at The Smithsonian National Zoo, Memphis Zoo, and Zoo Atlanta in captivity.
11. Sheds of Body-Color
Panda’s body color black & white provides camouflage. They are almost invisible in dense patches of bamboo because of that shed. Black eye patches help them to observe their opponents’ behavior.
12. Climbing and Swimming
Giant pandas are good at both climbing and swimming. From 7 months old, they can climb trees. As a bear, they can swim.
13. Laziness of Panda
The panda body produces lower thyroid hormones that make their metabolism slower. Their food also provides low nutrients. They remain active half of the day, spends the time eating. The rest of the time is only for sleeping.
14. Preference to Loneliness
As a mammal creature, the panda is extremely solitary. Even when it stays alone, and gets a sense of another panda is coming to it, it goes away from the place just to avoid them. This is in general but sometimes it enjoys companies during playing and some other activities.
15. Licks Copper and Iron
In ancient China, the panda was called the ‘iron-eating beast’. Panda generally loves to lick metals, especially copper and iron. If it gets any copper bowl, starts to lick. Actually, they lack salts in their diet. Perhaps in ancient, they licked copper and iron bowl for eating salt as well.
*Bonus Fact*
16. Symbol of Philosophy
According to Chinese philosophers, our universe is made from ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’ named two opposite forces. They believe that the black and white fur of the panda is the symbol of that philosophy of those contradictory forces while balancing.
Panda Tours
All of the life truths of giant pandas make you a craving to meet them, right?
Here are the top 5 places in China to visit according to the journal -
Let’s have a tour this summer!
