Panda’s are known to have fuzzy fur and racoon-like faces. They are also known as giant pandas or panda bears. Many think they are adorable animals, but there are also very interesting. For years scientists have debated if pandas are in the bear family or the raccoon family. They are classified as being in the bear family. Giant Pandas are critically endangered. Giant pandas eat bamboo. Learn more about these awesome animals with these giant panda facts for kids!
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What is a Giant Panda?
The scientific name for a Panda is Ailuropoda Melanoleuca. Pandas are mammals.
Pandas are in the bear family. Unlike other bears Pandas do not hibernate.
Pandas are often referred to a Giant Panda. The Chinese word for Panda is Da Xiong Mao meaning Giant Bear Cat.
What do Giant Pandas Look Like?
Pandas are black and white with black circles around their eyes. A Panda’s skin is two different colors. The skin under their black fur is dark while the skin under the white fur is pink!
They have a strong jaw bone and teeth to help them crunch on the bamboo. Pandas have five fingers on each hand and a wrist bone that acts like a thumb to help them hold and eat the bamboo. A male Panda is called a boar and can weigh 175-250 pounds. Female Pandas are called sows and can weigh 150-230 ponds. Pandas are 2-3 feet tall and 5-6 feet long. A baby is called a cub
Giant Panda Characteristics
Panda’s are shy and often keep to themselves. They stay away from people. Pandas have great eyes sight. Pandas like to climb trees.
Giant Panda Habitat
You may see a panda in a zoo, but there is only one place in the entire world where pandas live and that is in China. Giant Pandas live in the bamboo forests located in the high mountains of Southwest China.
What do Panda’s Eat?
Pandas eat bamboo, it is their main food source They will also eat bamboo shoots, leaves, stalks and berries. Pandas spend between 12-16 hours a day eating bamboo.
Baby Pandas
Female pandas are pregnant between 96-160 days. They usually give birth to one baby, twins are rare.
A baby is called a cub and are 3-4 ounces when born. Mom Pandas often hold their cubs by cradling them in their arms like a human mom would do with their baby. Panda cubs are born hairless their hair fully grows in when they are around 3 months old.
Babies are born with their eyes closed. Panda cubs open in 6-8 weeks. When babies are 7 months old they can climb trees.
Baby pandas are clumsy! They often trip, fall and roll over while exploring their surroundings.
Endangered Species
Pandas live between 15-20 years in the wild and over 30 in captivity. Pandas are an endangered species. The main threat to Pandas is loss of habitat. Many bamboo forests are cut down to make room for farming. Bamboo makes up over 95% of a panda’s diet. Without bamboo a panda will starve.
Scientists in China are working on conservation measures to save the Pandas.
Awesome Giant Panda Facts for Kids
Panda is the symbol of peace in China. Hundreds of years ago, when different groups would fight, when one side would want to stop they would raise a flag with a panda on it.
They have a wrist bone that they use like a thumb to hold food.
Giant Panda spend 10-16 hours a day eating
A Giant Panda will leave one baby if she had twins.
Pandas poop up to 62lbs a day! That’s a lot of poop!
Pandas are also called Giant Pandas or Panda Bears
