![]() As their habitat shrinks, giant pandas are threatened with extinction despite having very few natural enemies. In recent years however, road development and deforestation related to logging or agricultural activities has greatly reduced their possibility to adapt. While forests were still extensive, pandas were able to migrate normally. Pandas are then forced to move through the forest in search of fresh bamboo. Depending on its species, the bamboo forest dies off every 10 to 100 years. Giant pandas migrate often, following the bamboo life cycle. Instead, they go down the mountain to find warmer weather and move back up to the cooler parts of the forest during the summer without ever moving away from the areas where bamboos exist in abundance. Unlike other bears, giant pandas do not hibernate during the winter. This is why they need to eat up to 38 kilograms of bamboo every day and spend up to 14 hours a day chewing! However, like all bears, pandas have the digestive tract of carnivores and thus only absorb few of the nutrients in the bamboo, which has low nutritive value anyway. Giant pandas feed almost exclusively on leaves, stems and shoots of bamboo. Apart from their color, pandas are also distinguished by their pseudo-thumbs: part of their wrist is enlarged, serving just like a sixth digit in holding the bamboo shoots. They avoid humans in the forest, and their black and white coat serves as camouflage. ![]() ![]() In addition, though they may seem lazy, they are very capable tree climbers and swimmers. Reaching adulthood, they weigh up to 100–150 kilograms.ĭespite their cute looks, pandas are still bears and can become aggressive to protect themselves if they have to. The Life of the Giant Pandaīaby giant pandas are born blind and weigh only 90–130 grams, about the weight of a cellular phone. Their population is very small but, fortunately, growing: today there are 40% more pandas than during the early 1980s, when WWF launched its conservation program in China. Nowadays, only 1,600 giant pandas ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca) remain in the wild. ![]()
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