10 Silly, but True Panda Facts

Here are some fun, interesting panda facts!

1. The panda’s diet is 99% Bamboo - It seems that the panda really knows what it likes. Bamboo has a very low nutrient content, so pandas must eat up to 84 pounds of bamboo per day. Occasionally, the panda will stray from its much loved diet of bamboo to eat grass or even small rodents.

2..     The panda has strange skin coloring – Underneath that fuzzy coating of black and white fur, the panda has some pretty strange skin coloring. Beneath the white fur, the skin is black and beneath the black fur, the skin is pink!

3.     The panda cub can’t open its eyes after birth – It takes approximately 50 to 60 days for the panda cub to open its eyes. Therefore, the mother must stay with the panda at all times, rarely leaving the den.

4.     The panda has huge teeth – Even though the panda looks like an overgrown teddy bear, it can actually be quite dangerous. One panda tooth is on average seven times bigger than a human tooth.

5. The panda loves to eat – The panda’s diet may consist only of bamboo, but pandas sure spend a lot of time eating it. The panda spends between 12 to16 hours of the day eating!

6. The mother panda is 900 times bigger than the cub at birth – When born, the panda cub is about the size of a croissant. The mother will hold the tiny panda cub (she usually only has one per birth) in her paw, pressing it against her chest to keep it warm and safe.

7. Pandas bleat like goats – Pandas don’t make a scary roaring sound like most bears. Instead they make friendly bleating and honking noises to communicate with other pandas. Or they sneeze in a hilarious fashion as seen in the famous Sneezing Panda video:

8. Pandas are solitary animals – Pandas enjoy their own company. They are usually alone and only socialize with other pandas when they want to mate.

9. Pandas don’t hibernate – Unlike most other bears that live in moderate climates, the panda’s food source, bamboo, is available year-round. Additionally, because bamboo has a low nutrient content, pandas are unable to pack on enough pounds to hibernate.

10. The Panda sits while eating – The panda has good manners. Instead of standing while eating food, the panda will sit in order to use its front paws to hold the bamboo shoots.

Although pandas have been on the earth for almost 3 million years, they are now facing extinction. There are only about 1600 pandas that survive in the wild today and live in the mountain ranges of central Chinese provinces. The panda’s greatest enemy is man who, through poaching and environmental degradation, has left the panda without a safe habitat to thrive as a species. However, efforts to increase the panda species are being met with success and the panda population is starting to be revitalized. The China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, along with other research centers, are working along with generous donors to help save the panda. You can help too: