Giant Panda

STATS Order Carnivora Family Procyonidae Genus Ailuropoda Species Melanoleuca   Height 70-80 cms Weight 100-150 kgs Lifespan Upto 20 years Habitat Bamboo forests

Found only in China the Giant Panda is one of the world’s most rare animals with approximately 1,000 living in the wild. Amazingly, Pandas are in the same family as Raccoons, Coatis and Red Pandas and are not part of the bear family as some people might think. They are largely solitary animals in the wild, and will mark their territory through scent marking. They feed on bamboo shoots but will find other food such as bulbs, grasses and occasionally rodents if necessary. The Giant Panda was not discovered until 1869.

 

BOOKS ON PANDAS

	Animals at Risk: Panda
	Author: Judy Allen, Tudor Humphries (Illustrator)
	Jake accompanies his botanist dad on an expedition to China. Soon Jake is walking through a bamboo forest, hoping he'll see a panda, but he doesn't. The next day he is left alone at the camp, when he receives an unexpected visitor. This book alerts readers to the dangers facing pandas. - Children's Books
		Buy

	The Giant Panda (Endangered Animals & Habitats)
	Author: Judith Janda Presnall
	Reading level: Ages 4-8 Hardcover (January 1998) Lucent Books; ISBN: 1560064633
		Buy

	The Last Panda
	Author: George B. Schaller
	Dependent on a shrinking supply of bamboo, hunted mercilessly for its pelt, and hostage to profiteering schemes once in captivity, the panda is on the brink of extinction. Here, acclaimed naturalist George Schaller uses his great evocative powers, and the insight gained by four and a half years in the forests of the Wolong and Tangjiahe panda reserves, to document the plight of these mysterious creatures and to awaken the human compassion urgently needed to save them.
		Buy

	The Panda : Wild About Bamboo (Animal Close-Ups)
	Author: Valerie Tracqui
	Reading level: Ages 4-8 Paperback - 27 pages (July 1999) Charlesbridge Publishing Inc; ISBN: 0881067377
		Buy

Giant Panda Links

Giant-Panda.com A very nice panda site with beautiful photographs and very useful information. Worth checking out.

 

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