The giant panda is an endangered animal found only in western China, because of human encroachment, the panda’s habitat is now reduced to six isolated patches mainly in Sichuan. Pandas are related to bears, though they are significantly different in many ways.
Bamboo is the main source of food for pandas and they spend at least 12 hours a day eating. Bamboo is a poor source of nutrition for pandas, so they eat as much as 38kg of it a day. One reason why the habitat range of the panda is limited is because they only eat specific species of bamboo found within their homerange, and the areas are becoming progressively smaller.
The lifespan of pandas in the wild is unknown, but pandas in captivity live 14 to 20 years. The female panda begins to breed it’s around six or seven years old and usually delivers only one or two panda cubs. The average weight of a newborn baby panda is only 100g compared to the 150kg of its mother. The newborn cub is completely helpless; it has no fur and can’t open its eyes and will be completely dependent on its mother for the next few years.
Today the number of pandas in the wild is uncertain, but estimates put the number at around a thousand. The Chinese government has enacted laws and funded conservation efforts to protect the pandas. Breeding centers and research stations have been set up and studies continue to explore ways to protect the species. In 1961, the World Wildlife Fund adopted the panda as its emblem to highlight the issues of world wildlife conservation.