Threats to Giant Pandas

    Pandas face the problem of the bamboo flowering cycle. At regular intervals (ranging from 10 to 100 years depending on the species), bamboo plants flower over large areas and die. Although they regenerate from seed within a year, it can take up to 20 years before the bamboo can support a panda population again.

    When the bamboo in one area flowers, pandas have to move to other areas where this has not happened. Historically, this was easy, but as the human population expanded, more forests have been cleared for agricultural purposes, or for the collection of fuelwood and timber. At the same time, more human settlements and roads have been built. Together, they make panda migration much more difficult, leaving pandas restricted to islands of forest.

   Although giant pandas will eat a large variety of plants, the overwhelming bulk of their diet, over 99%, consists of bamboo leaves, stems and shoots. Over fifteen different varieties of bamboo grow within the region.

    Because of the giant pandas still quite inefficient intestinal system, it must eat great amounts of bamboo each day in order to get sufficient nutrition to survive. Feeding for 12 to 16 hours each day, giant pandas will consume 10 to 18 kilograms (22 to 40 pounds) of bamboo leaves and stems. When consuming fresh bamboo shoots, the necessary intake rises to approximately 38 kilograms (84 pounds) each day.

   The size of the home range of an giant panda is quite small when compared to the home ranges of other bear species.

    In general, a home range will vary from 3.8 to 6.5 square kilometers (1.5 to 2.5 square miles). The range of an individual giant panda is shared with other bears. Females have been found to stay in quite small, discrete ranges only 30 to 40 hectares (75 to 100 acres) in size. Males have larger home ranges which overlap the home ranges of several females.

   The habitat of the giant panda, suitable for the bamboo on which it survives, is a cold, damp coniferous forest. The elevation ranges from 1,200 to 3,400 metres ( 4,000 to 11,000 feet) high. In most of the areas in which they still roam wild, they must compete with farmers who farm the river valleys and the lower slopes of the mountains.


   Ancient Chinese history and writings abound with mention of the Panda. They were kept by emperors and their hides were highly valued. They carried a mystique and were believed to be able to ward off evil spirits and natural disasters.

   In general, adult giant pandas and have a length of 160 to 180 centimeters (5 1/4 to 6 feet). The weight of a adult male giant panda is normally between 80 and 125 kilograms (176 and 276 pounds) with males typically weighing about 10% to 20% more than females.

    With few natural enemies other than man, the lifespan of giant pandas in the wild is thought to be twenty-five years or more.

   The panda has the digestive system of a carnivore. Long ago, however, it adapted to a vegetarian diet and now feeds almost exclusively on the stems and leaves of bamboo. Hidden in the dense foliage of the forest, the panda eats for up to 14 hours a day, consuming 12 to 14kg of bamboo.

   The panda is omnivorous. While bamboo represents 99% of their diet they have also been known to eat fish, pikas, rodents, vines, irises, crocus, mushrooms and rice grass. The panda assumes a sitting position to eat. Their unique forepaws have an enlarged wristbone that they can flex like a thumb. This allows them to direct bamboo stalks to their mouths where they strip off bites with their incisor teeth.

   Pandas digest about 20% of what they eat. (Cattle, for example, digest 60% of their intake) To compensate for their low quality diet pandas select only the most nutritious parts of the bamboo, they eat rapidly and they eat a lot. About 12 hours each day are spent feeding and they consume 12-15% of their body weight each day. During this time they consume between 23 and 36 pounds of bamboo shoots and leaves. They have been known to consume as much as 84 pounds of "new" bamboo shoots at one sitting. Special adaptations for digestion include large molars. 25 species of bamboo are eaten by pandas in the wild. Captive pandas will eat only 9 of these. Only a few bamboo species are widespread at the high altitudes pandas now inhabit: Fargesia spathacea, Sinarundinaria chungii, Sinarundinaria nitida, and Sinarundinaria fangiana.

   Bamboo leaves contain the highest protein levels, stems have less. Because of the synchronous flowering, death and regeneration of all bamboo species, pandas must have a least 2 different species available in their range to avoid starvation.

    Throughout most of the year pandas have a water imbalance because their feces eliminate more water than the food brings in. They usually drink at least once each day.

   A cub will begin to eat bamboo at about six months and be fully weaned after nine months. At the end of the first year they are about 70 to 80 pounds. The cubs will stay with their mother for about 1 1/2 years.

   The cubs will stay with the mother for the entire first year to year and a half. Normally they are driven off by their mother as she prepares to breed once more.

    The survival of giant panda cubs is totally dependent on the skill of the mother in both protecting them and teaching them the basics of what to eat, where and how to get it, how to cope with danger and all the other skills of living in the wild.

   Female giant pandas do not normally mature until they are 5 to 7 years of age. Copulation normally takes place in a manner similar to members of the canine (dog) family.

   Mating begins in late-March and continues on into May. Similar to other bear species, the female stays in heat for only a short time, normally two to seven days. Unlike any other bear, males will often roar to announce their presence to receptive females. Females may mate with several males during the breeding season.

   Through a remarkable process referred to as delayed implantation, the fertilized ovum divides a few times and then floats free within the uterus for a few months with its development arrested. Sometime around June or July, the embryo will attach itself to the uterine wall and after a gestation period of eight weeks (August or September), the giant panda female will enter a rock cavity or hollow tree to deliver one or two cubs.

   At birth, the cubs are blind and very tiny. They weigh from 90 to 130 grams (3 to 4 1/2 ounces). This is about the size of a chipmunk. The newborn cubs are covered with a fine white fur but will have acquired the typical giant panda fur colouration within a month of their birth.

    The mother will use the maternity den for a month to a month and a half. Cradling the newborn cub in her forepaws, the mother will hold the cub so that it is able to suckle similar to a human mother nursing her child. The female regularly leaves the den for two to three hours to forage on nearby bamboo. Giant panda cubs are eating bamboo by the time they are 6 months old and are fully weaned by the time they are 9 months of age. At one year of age, the cubs normally weigh about 35 kilograms (75 pounds).

    Wild giant pandas are found only in southwestern China. They occupy 6 small forest fragments in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi. (5,400 square miles).

    They inhabit damp, misty forests of bamboo and conifers. Their preferred habitat has dense stands of at least one species of bamboo (preferably more).

    They are found at high altitudes (4,000-11,500 feet). They migrate higher in the summer, lower in the winter, preferring areas that are undisturbed by human activity and with access to clear mountain streams.

   Summers are cool with Monsoon (torrential rains) occurring from June to October. Snow and hail are common in winter.

    Unlike some other bears, the panda does not hibernate. Its cubs are fairly small at birth, weighing only 90 to 130 gm, but, fully grown, it can weigh 100kg and over. New苑orn cubs have little fur and are very delicate. Infant mortality is also high. The average life span is 18 to 20 years in the wild, and up to 30 years in captivity