Pandas in the wild. Panda - a strange child of nature

When it comes to pandas, a common mistake is made. The problem is that people are confused about which family the panda belongs to.

As a rule, people who have not gone into the subtleties of taxonomy think that large and little panda They differ only in their sizes. In fact, everything is completely different and both pandas, although they have some common features, belong to different families.

What family does the giant panda belong to?

Enough for a long time has been the subject of heated scientific debate. The reason was that she shares similarities with raccoons and bears at the same time.

The disputes were lengthy and during their course big panda moved from family to family. Genetics put an end to these disputes, proving that the giant panda belongs to the bear family.

What family does the red panda belong to?

Things were even worse with the big one. It was classified not only as a raccoon or bear, but also in a separate family. There were objective reasons for such doubts, since red pandas, while possessing the characteristics of bears and raccoons, also possessed the traits of skunks and mustelids.

In the end, genetics came to the rescue again. Now the red panda belongs to the panda family (Ailuridae), which is represented only by the small panda itself. However, some zoologists still believe that there is insufficient evidence for such a distinction and classify the red panda as a member of the raccoon family.

Where did the confusion about giant and small pandas come from?

The reason that representatives of different families began to be called by one name was that when Europeans became acquainted with both, they did not go into the subtleties of classification. Both animals feed on bamboo and have several more common features. For this reason, the name of the red panda was transferred to the bamboo bear, which is now better known as the giant panda.

Squad - Predators

Family - Bearish

Genus/Species - Ailuropoda melanoleuca. Giant panda or bamboo bear

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Body length: male - 150 cm, female slightly smaller.

Tail length: up to 16 cm.

Shoulder height: 60-70 cm.

Weight: up to 150 kg, females are smaller.

REPRODUCTION

Puberty: from 6-7 years old.

Mating season: most likely March-May.

Pregnancy: 97-163 days.

Number of cubs: 1-2.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: Giant pandas (look at the photo) are solitary animals.

Food: mostly thin sprouts and partly bamboo roots, tree bark, flowers, mushrooms, berries, fish, small rodents, eggs.

RELATED SPECIES

The giant panda is classified as a special subfamily in the bear family; its closest relatives are other representatives of the family.

For for long years Scientists argued about where to classify the giant panda - to the bear or raccoon family. In 16 characteristics it is close to bears and only in 5 - to raccoons, and another 12 characteristics are unique to it alone. The big panda is classified as a bear, while the small panda belongs to the raccoon family.

REPRODUCTION

Male and female giant pandas are found only on a short time during the mating period. The female's pregnancy lasts five months. Cubs are born most often in January. Each time the female gives birth to one baby. The baby is born in a nest made of bamboo. If a female gives birth to twins, only one baby survives. The panda cub is small: its length is 15 cm, and its weight is about 15.6 g. The newborn is blind and helpless. At first it is pure white, but after a month it already acquires the coloration of an adult bear.

FOOD

Despite the fact that the giant panda belongs to the order of carnivores, this animal feeds mainly plant foods. Included in the diet big panda includes thin sprouts and partially roots of bamboo, as well as other plants and tubers. If bamboo is the only available food source, the panda may spend half the day eating. Bamboo contains little nutrients, so the animal, in order to get enough, eats about 20 kg of green mass per day. That's why the big panda is also called bamboo bear. Giant pandas destroy bird nests, eat their eggs, and catch insects and rodents.

LIFESTYLE

The Chinese call the giant panda “Yi Xion Mao,” which means “big cat bear.” Emperors kept pandas in their palaces because they believed they could protect against misfortune. Giant pandas are solitary animals. They devote most of the day to eating, and rest for the rest of the time. To shelter from bad weather and enemies, unlike brown bears, leopards or other animals, pandas climb trees. When resting, giant pandas settle down on the ground without making shelter for themselves. The bamboo thickets are dense, so the panda is reliably protected from danger on the ground. The giant panda lives in areas with a cold climate, in mountainous areas. Thick fur protects it from the cold.

GIANT PANDA AND MAN

The giant panda only became known to the Western world in 1869. For the first time, naturalists observed a panda in the wild only in 1913. Formerly a man was the most serious enemy of the giant panda. People are to blame for the catastrophic decline in the numbers of these animals. It is people who destroy their places of residence: where there used to be bamboo forests, today numerous settlements or fields are cultivated or pastures are formed. As a result of rash human actions after the death of the bamboo forests, giant pandas were doomed to starvation, since they were unable to get through the fields and villages in their path to the young bamboo groves. The giant panda, the symbol of the World Conservation Fund, is under strict protection. There is practically no hunting for giant pandas. But sometimes these animals fall into traps set for other animals. People plant trees so that pandas can move from forest to forest along forest corridors. To preserve these rare animals, reservations are created.

FEATURES OF THE DEVICE

The giant panda differs from its relatives in its food preferences. Carnivores use their incisors to tear and shred meat, while the giant panda uses its incisors to tear down bamboo shoots. Oddly enough, it is very difficult for the giant panda, which eats almost exclusively plants, to digest bamboo. Therefore, most of the absorbed plant matter quickly passes through the body, and the panda has to eat a huge amount of shoots of this plant in order to obtain the necessary nutrients.

GENERAL PROVISIONS. INFORMATION

The giant panda or bamboo bear is on the verge of extinction. There are about 700 pandas left in the wild, and about 120 more in zoos. The image of a giant panda adorns the emblem International Union nature conservation.

This bear-like creature (body length 120-180 cm, weight 75-160 kg) lives in the mountain bamboo forests of China at an altitude of 2600 - 3500 m above sea level. It feeds mainly on bamboo fruits and roots, other plants and small animals. Once every two years, the female gives birth to 1-2 cubs, which are born blind and weigh about 2 kg.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

• Often a giant panda devotes 12 to 16 hours a day to eating. Most of the green mass she absorbs quickly passes through her digestive tract.
• The panda is distinguished from bears by its rather long (12-16 cm) tail. With its help, she marks the territory with the secretion of the anal glands.
• Giant pandas do not hibernate. In bad weather, animals hide in tree hollows or rock crevices.
• The giant panda is the symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
• Pandas were first described by Father Armand David in 1869 when he discovered them in China. By that time, nothing was known about this animal in the Western world.
• Pandas have strong molars.

LIFE CYCLE OF BAMBOO FORESTS

Approximately every 50 years, bamboo forests in a certain area bloom, produce seeds and die. This phenomenon in last time observed in 1983. However, giant pandas often die of starvation because they cannot cross human-populated areas and fields to reach young bamboo forests.

- Habitat of the giant panda

WHERE DOES THE GIANT PANDA LIVE?

Giant panda lives in mountain forests South China. It is found in the northern and central regions of Sichuan Province, in the mountains surrounding southern part Gansu, and in the mountains on the southern border of Shaanxi province.

PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION

The giant panda is one of the rarest and very little studied large animals. The total number of pandas, according to various sources, ranges from 200 to 900 individuals.

Giant panda or bamboo bear. Video (00:00:58)

Panda, fun walks. Video (00:01:50)

The Chinese name (?? xiongmao xiongmao) means "cat bear".
Pandas at the San Diego Zoo.
Giant panda or bamboo bear. Pandas live in the mountainous regions of central China: Sichuan and Tibet.
The panda reaches 1.2-1.5 m in length and weighs from 30 to 160 kg. Unlike other bears, it has quite a long tail 10-15 cm. The body is massive, covered with thick white fur with black spots around the eyes (“spectacles”), black ears and black paws. Short thick hind legs have sharp claws. Pandas are carnivorous animals, but their diet is overwhelmingly vegetarian. In fact, they only eat bamboo. An adult panda eats up to 30 kg of bamboo and shoots per day. Leasing giant pandas to zoos in the United States and Japan was an important part of Chinese diplomacy in the 1970s. Since 1984, China has offered pandas to other countries on 10-year leases. Standard terms The lease includes a rent of US$1 million per year and guarantees that all cubs born during the lease period are the property of the People's Republic of China.

A giant panda takes water treatments. Video (00:01:15)

Edinburgh Zoo, giant panda named Tian Tian feels completely calm in the pool with cold water. Big brave panda, nothing to say.

The giant panda is a bear, a predator, but feeds mainly on bamboo. Listed in the International Red Book as an endangered species of animals.

PANDA decides to escape! Video (00:01:27)

The panda or bamboo bear no longer wants to be locked up and decides to escape. The little panda with great effort overcomes all the difficulties in his path, but at the very last moment everything breaks down. Want to know more? Then watch something new funny video about the adventure of these funny animals!

Chinese giant panda reserve Chengdu. Video (00:02:31)

The wild panda, the unofficial symbol of China and the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is facing extinction within three generations due to deforestation and infrastructure construction, the Global Times wrote on Monday, citing WWF expert Fan Zhiyong. According to the expert, the habitat of the panda, also known as the "bamboo bear", is constantly shrinking due to the cutting down of bamboo forests and the construction of infrastructure projects such as highways and hydroelectric dams. Thus, from 1975 to 1985, the habitat area of ​​pandas in China “shrank” from 29.5 thousand to 13 thousand square kilometers. “In addition, roads make it difficult for pandas to migrate, which interferes with mating between animals from different groups and the normal renewal of the gene pool,” Fan said. “The problem of inbreeding arises - this entails the birth of weak offspring, often incapable of reproductive activity,” the expert believes. Currently, 239 pandas live in captivity in China, and another 1.59 thousand live in bamboo groves in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Is the giant panda dangerous for humans? Video (00:00:34)

People started to gasp and gasp. The big panda walked with a determined gait straight towards the people. Only at the very end of the video it became clear that there was glass between them :)
The giant panda is a predator. Reaches 160 kg weight. Male giant pandas (they are larger and heavier than females) can reach 1.8 meters in length.
So decide for yourself whether it’s worth the risk?! There are known cases of panda attacks on humans. Most likely, these cases
provoked by the man himself. The giant panda is considered a very calm animal and unless you ask for it yourself, it is unlikely to show any aggression.

Panda is one of the most exotic animals. Funny "teddy bears" live only in western China, but they have ardent fans all over the world. During surveys conducted in zoos different countries, all visitors, young and old, almost unanimously named the panda their favorite animal.

Cute black and white hulks, busily chewing bamboo, will touch anyone. This is probably why at the end of the 20th century the panda became for us the embodiment of the defenselessness of the animal world, disappearing due to the fault of man. And it was this fame that seemed to save the black and white bears. Since the early 1980s, environmentalists have managed to organize dozens of nature reserves in China and pass a number of laws to protect this animal. And most importantly, the efforts were not in vain.

The last census of giant pandas, conducted in the winter of 2004, showed that the number of these animals has increased. Ecologists did not even dare to hope for such results - now about 1,600 black and white bears already live in the bamboo forests of the three Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu! Europeans met the giant panda quite late - in the second half of the 19th century. The first to see it was the Catholic missionary Arman David: local residents got it for the amateur naturalist black and white beast- the hunters called him da-shun-mao, “big bear cat”, and also bei-shun - “white mountain bear”. Father Arman brought his black and white bear(Ursus melanoleuca - this is how he classified the new kind) to the Paris Museum. However, metropolitan scientists have questioned the bear nature of the strange beast from Asia.

French zoologist Milne Edwards described a new species and gave it a name no less strange than the beast itself - “black and white catpaw” (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Why catpaw? The scientist came to the conclusion that the examined specimen is similar to Cuvier’s “fiery cat,” or panda, a predatory animal that lives in the forests of China. Externally, the long-tailed bright red animal, a cross between a marten and a raccoon, does not at all resemble a bamboo bear. But the structure of the skull and teeth of these animals turned out to be surprisingly similar. So the first researchers decided that both immigrants from China were close relatives. The bear-like black and white hulk was also called a panda, but a big one, to distinguish it from the other one - the red or small panda.

Despite the “herbivorous” lifestyle, pandas retain a completely bearish commitment to individualism. Each bamboo bear adheres to its own territory, carefully marking its boundaries. But the areas of different pandas overlap to one degree or another: “teddy bears” are generally peaceful and not prone to conflicts. Some researchers even believe that the contrasting black and white coloring of pandas allows them to notice each other from afar in the bamboo forest and avoid unwanted encounters. Usually these animals are very friendly: they manage to quarrel only in the spring, when the mating season begins and the males roam the wooded slopes in search of a mate. However, in captivity, the character of bears can deteriorate - zoologists observed several real fights: animals roared, tore at each other powerful fangs and thrashed with their paws until the weakest retreated. Pregnancy in pandas lasts from 3 to 5 months, and then future mom looks for shelter - a crevice in the rocks or a hole under the roots of a tree. There the panda gives birth to one, rarely two or even three cubs. This happens in late summer once every two to three years.

Thousands of years ago, when the mountains of Southern China were almost completely covered with bamboo forests, starving animals could leave their homes and calmly move to the neighboring valley. But today people are everywhere. They cut down the forests, and the poor black and white bear simply has nowhere to go. Pandas living on an island of dying forest are doomed. In 1975, when umbrella bamboo began to die off in Sichuan province, more than 100 pandas died there. Ecologists help the trapped bears: when the bamboo dies in one forest, the pandas are caught and transported by truck to another valley. In total, there are more than 40 black and white bear reserves in China. True, these islands of “panda prosperity” are far from each other. Zoologists plan to lay between them “ ecological trails" Then pandas will be able to independently travel through the forests.

In the very large nature reserve About a hundred bamboo bears live in Wolong in Sichuan. They are watched not only by zoologists, but also simply by animal lovers: anyone can come to the reserve and visit the good-natured pandas with a guide. Recently, Volun has also been accepting volunteers - there is work for everyone: you can observe bears, feed young animals, or clean the territory. Such leisure many modern tourists enjoy much more than entertainment in the most luxurious hotels. Of course, there are also skeptics who do not believe in good news. Some scientists believe that there are no more pandas. And less too. Their numbers remained at the same level - it’s just that this time new technologies and funding made it possible to conduct the census more accurately, and a couple of hundred bears were discovered that had not been counted before. And yet I want to believe that these big originals are doing better and better, that they have a chance to survive next to people.

The panda (or bamboo bear) is a representative of mammals from the raccoon family. Pandas are the name of two species of Asian mammals from the order Carnivora. similar friends on each other and on external signs and according to their way of life, but belonging to different families. The body length of a giant panda reaches 1.5 meters, and with a tail it is 12.5 cm longer. Its weight reaches 160 kg.

Where the panda lives, the lifestyle and habits of this cute animal will be discussed in this article.

It should be noted that now in natural natural conditions Only a little more than 1,500 animals have survived, and therefore the panda is listed in the famous Red Book. Steps are being taken to conserve and prevent their extinction in order to increase the numbers of these cute animals.

Panda is an animal that resembles a raccoon or bear.

The appearance of a panda is very similar to a bear. However, they have differences: different structure of teeth and different lengths tail The panda has long been considered a "huge raccoon", due to the similarity of the raccoon's anatomical features with the red panda (it was unconditionally considered a raccoon).

The peasants of China always called this animal “polar bear”, and also “bamboo bear”, which turned out to be closer to the truth, which scientists finally figured out quite recently.

Usually these animals live in bamboo forests in dense thickets in China, on the islands of Kalimantan and Indonesia.

In order to get enough food, an adult “bamboo bear” needs to eat about 18 kg of young shoots and stems of succulent bamboo per day. The animal grinds the greens with its jaws. This is a very low nutritional food, and therefore everything free time(about 12 hours a day) the panda is forced to chew.

In addition to this food, it can also feed on carrion. This small birds and animals that a real bear uses very rarely, only in exceptional cases.

The places where pandas live (the country of China and the islands) are both a good shelter and the main source of food for these rare exotic animals.

Lifestyle

The bamboo plant blooms quite rarely: once every 10, sometimes every 100 years, depending on their species. With all this, everything blooms and produces seeds at once, and then they all die out simultaneously over a large area. Bamboo seeds take root in at least a year, and for new thickets to appear, at least 20 years must pass. In this regard, pandas have to search for new habitats where they could feed themselves and their cubs.

IN wildlife, where the panda lives, not everything is so optimistic. The “bamboo bear” lives alone, and only once a year (during the mating season) it meets with a female or male to breed. As a result, only one and rarely two completely naked, helpless and blind cubs are born.

The eyes of newborns open only after a month, and after only 3 weeks, fur appears. The baby’s weight at birth is only 175 grams; by the age of 2 months he gains up to 4 kilograms, and by mature age- even up to 160 kg.

Panda in the Red Book

Pandas living in nature have a hard time: when people develop territories, they cut down forests, and therefore most of the individuals short period The three-day mating time does not find its partners and, as a result, remains without offspring. Thus, the population is declining (about 700 individuals).

The panda has long been included in the Red Book, and every newly born animal is of great value and a very joyful event.

IN given time in China, where the panda lives, the animal is considered a national treasure of that country. The amazingly wonderful Panda is a symbol of friendship and peace. Thanks to this careful attitude Many individuals of this animal live under the strict protection of national reserves.

Titles: Giant panda, giant panda, Tibetan mountain bear, bamboo bear.

Area: The giant panda is found only in the mountain forests of several western provinces of China (Sichuan, Gansu, Tibet). Previously, it also lived in mountain bamboo forests in Indochina and on the island of Kalimantan. The total range covers 29,500 km 2, but only 5,900 km 2 is the panda's habitat.

Description: The panda's body is massive, covered with thick fur. The legs are short and thick, with wide paws armed with strong claws. On the soles and at the base of each toe, bare pads are well developed, making it easier to hold the smooth bamboo stems while eating. Her feet, rounded and hairy at the bottom, are short and do not fully rest on the ground when walking. The giant panda's head is massive, blunt-faced, with big ears. The panda is distinguished from bears by its rather long (12 cm) tail and teeth structure. Of the 40 teeth, there are four false and two true molars at the top, and three false and three true molars at the bottom. The molars and premolars are wider and flatter than those of other bears, and they have developed extensive cusps and projections for grinding the tough bamboo when eating.
At external resemblance with the bear, the anatomy of the giant panda is so unusual that the panda was placed either in the raccoon family, then in the bear family, or in its own special family. This bear-like animal has long been considered a "giant raccoon" due to common anatomical features with the red panda (which was considered a raccoon without question). However, ordinary Chinese peasants, who have long called the big panda a “polar bear” (literally - bei-shuang) or “bamboo bear,” turned out to be closer to the truth than taxonomists, who only recently realized that the big panda is still a bear.
Australian paleontologist E. Tennius, based on an analysis of the morphology, biochemistry, cardiology and ethology of the giant panda, showed that in 16 characteristics it is close to bears and only in five - to the red panda and other raccoons, and 12 characteristics are characteristic only of it alone. Tennius believed that the giant panda deserved to be allocated to a special family of pandas ( Ailuropodidae), which was proposed by R. Pokcock in 1921.
Molecular biological and cardiological studies of the giant panda, conducted by a group of American researchers, led to the conclusion that in the process of evolution, the branch of the giant panda separated from the line of development of bears about 25-18 million years ago - in the first half of the Miocene. Some common peculiar characteristics of the giant and red pandas do not appear to be explained by their common origin, but by parallel preservation of ancestral characteristics in the same natural conditions of Southeast Asia.

Color: The main color background of a giant panda is white. There are characteristic black spots ("spectacles") around the eyes. The legs are black, while the black coloring of the forelimbs merges with a wide “yoke” of the same color that encircles the body over the shoulders. The ends of the ears and the tip of the tail are also black.
There is an ancient Chinese history about how giant pandas got their unique coloring. A young girl who was a friend of these bears died and the pandas were heartbroken. They cried at the funeral and constantly rubbed their eyes with their paws. Thus, dark color their paw was moved to their eyes. The bears then hugged themselves out of grief and marked their ears, shoulders, and hind legs with black and colored themselves the way we see them today.

Size: The length of a giant panda reaches 1.2-1.8 m, on average - 1.65 m. Tail length - about 12 cm. Shoulder height - 65-70 cm.

Weight: From 70 to 125 kg, rarely up to 160 kg (average - 102.50 kg). Males weigh about 10 percent more than females (males weigh 85-125 kg, females 70-100 kg).

Lifespan: Maximum lifespan in captivity is 26 years. Life expectancy in nature is not precisely known, but appears to be approximately 14 years, with a maximum of 20 years.

Pandas are usually silent animals that prefer silence. But they seem to be able to bleat, making a sound similar to that produced by lambs or kids. This is a friendly sound, a greeting. When an animal is irritated, it can roar (though not at all like bears) or buzz. Panda puppies often whine and squeal. Pandas actively vocalize and social interactions. They "chirp" during mating and buzz in distress. A squeal indicates submission or pain. “Chomping” (quickly opening and closing the mouth so that the teeth are expressively shown to the partner) is a soft defensive threat.

Habitat: Giant pandas live in dense impenetrable bamboo forests at an altitude of 1200 to 4500 m above sea level, in very temperate climate with a pronounced change of seasons. Dense thickets bamboo, reaching a height of 3-4 meters, provides the panda with shelter and food supplies. All year round these forests, often shrouded in heavy clouds, characterize heavy rains or dense darkness.

Enemies: Today the giant panda does not have natural enemies, but in the past there may have been, such as tigers. The biggest threat to the panda's survival right now is the loss and degradation of its habitat.

Food: Giant pandas are carnivores, but they have had to adapt to living and eating mostly on 30 species of bamboo (over 99% of their diet). The panda has become a narrow vegetarian and feeds on succulent young shoots and old stems, up to 13 mm in diameter, and even bamboo roots, using its powerful jaws and strong teeth to crush tough, fibrous bamboo.
The walls of the stomach are extremely muscular. The panda's esophagus and stomach are lined with layers of elastic mucous tissue to protect against bamboo slivers. Monotonous food has little nutritional value and is difficult to digest, and therefore the panda is forced to chew almost all its waking hours (which is 10-12 hours a day), moving through the bamboo thicket. To get enough nutrition they are forced to eat from 12 to 18 kg of bamboo per day. When digesting bamboo, they use an average of only 17% dry matter. Therefore, giant pandas have an extremely strict energy budget for their body. They travel little and usually only when they have depleted nearby food resources.
Bamboo - most interesting plant! Many types of bamboo grow incredibly fast - the culm of Japanese bamboo grows almost 1.2 m in a day! Bamboo grown from a seed takes many years to reach full size and maturity, gradually growing to a whole grove. Then the bamboo blooms and, having given seeds, dies, i.e. the whole grove is dying! At least 2-3 years are required for new shoots to form from the seed. So for all the animals who depend on bamboo: giant pandas, red pandas and humans - flower-decorated bamboo predicts deprivation for several years. Thus, the flowering of monocarpic bamboo species that began in the 70s of the 20th century and their death over large areas deprived pandas of food in a number of places and, as a result, between 1974 and 1976, 138 pandas died.
In addition to bamboo, giant pandas eat bulbs (such as iris and saffron), grasses, and sometimes insects, carrion, eggs, small rodents and other animals that they can catch.
In nature, giant pandas get most of their water from bamboo, which on average is half water. Young bamboo shoots are almost 90% water. But pandas need more water than bamboo can provide. So pandas drink almost every day fresh water from rivers and streams.
In zoos, giant pandas eat bamboo, sugar cane, thin rice porridge, special fiber-rich biscuits, carrots, apples and sweet potatoes.

Behavior: The giant panda lived in bamboo forests for several million years. It is an extremely specialized animal, with unique adaptations associated with eating bamboo. The panda holds the stems in its paw with the help of a “claw” - the “sixth” finger, opposed to the rest (in fact, it is not a finger, but an outgrowth of one of the metacarpal bones). This adaptation allows for easy and dexterous manipulation of the resilient bamboo stems. Pandas are also known for their upright feeding posture, which resembles a person sitting on the floor and which leaves their front paws free to better handle food.
They are active at any time of the day or night. Pandas do not hide in trees and do not make a permanent den, but in bad weather they sometimes take refuge in hollow trees, rock crevices and caves. Giant pandas are primarily terrestrial animals, although they are good climbers and capable swimmers. During the cold period, the panda is inactive; in snowy winters, it sometimes falls into a kind of state for a short time. hibernation, but unlike other bears, she does not sleep in winter. However, during the winter it moves down the slopes (usually no lower than 800 m) to reach places with fairly moderate and comfortable temperatures.
Many people find this animal not only attractive, but also a gentle, harmless animal, but in reality, giant pandas can be just as dangerous as any other bear. Thanks to her increased caution and secretive lifestyle, it is only occasionally possible to get a panda for the zoo, and even in the largest zoos in the world they are very rare, as indeed in their homeland.

Social structure: Mainly solitary except during mating and raising offspring. Giant pandas occupy a territory of 3.9-6.4 km2 (males have larger areas than females), which is much smaller than that of other bear species. In this case, the territories of males partially cover the territories of females. At the same time, territoriality in males is weakly expressed, while females vigorously defend their territory.

Reproduction: Giant pandas are characterized by a promiscuous mating system, with males competing for access to more than one adult female. When females are ready to mate, they increase scent marking activity and become more vocal. Males also compete with each other for access to a female who is ready to mate and conceive. The period when conception can occur is quite short and does not exceed 2-7 days.
The development of the embryo usually occurs with a delay in development; this period of rest can last from 1.5 to 4 months. Thanks to this, young people are born in the most favorable time. climatic conditions season.

Breeding season/period: Spring (March to May). Young pandas are born next winter, usually in January, according to other sources - in August-September.

Puberty: In the wild, pandas do not reach sexual maturity until they are at least 4.5 years old, but they actually begin breeding at around 7.5 years of age. In captivity, both sexes usually reach maturity earlier, at 5.5 or 6.5 years of age

Pregnancy: Ranges from 84-97 to 164-181 days, with an average of about 135 days.

Offspring: Usually 1-2, rarely 3 naked cubs are born, each weighing only 100-200 g and 15 - 17 cm long. Immediately after birth, the mother helps the helpless cub reach the nipple.
At birth, giant panda cubs, like all other bears, are blind and helpless, but unlike most bears, they are covered with a thin layer of fur.
The panda mother treats her little puppy very carefully, which she usually rocks in one paw like a cradle, hugging him closely to her chest. For several days after birth, the mother does not leave the den, not even leaving to eat or drink! The female breastfeeds the cub up to 14 times a day, and the duration of each feeding reaches 30 minutes.
Despite the fact that females often give birth to twins, soon after giving birth the mother chooses one, stronger baby, and the second, unattended, soon dies. Therefore, in zoos, keepers leave only one baby near the female, replacing him with another every few days. Thus, it is possible to feed both babies with nutritious mother's milk.
The cubs' eyes open at 3 weeks of age. Lactation lasts about 46 weeks.
Cubs stay with their mothers for one and a half to three years, so the interval between births is therefore usually 2 years. Mothers often play with their puppies.

Benefit/harm for humans: The panda population is closely related to bamboo abundance. Pandas were persecuted for their fur, which is highly prized (in Japan, the price of one skin reaches $176,000). Until recently, panda fur was used to make very valuable sleeping mats, as it was believed to have supernatural properties that help predict the future through dreams.
Sometimes pandas die when they fall into musk deer traps set by poachers.

Population/Conservation Status: The giant panda is in International IUCN Red List and is one of the rarest, poorly studied large animals, which is facilitated by a secretive lifestyle. It became known only in the middle of the 19th century, and naturalists first observed a living panda in nature only in 1913. In China, the giant panda is declared a national treasure. Therefore, in 1995, a Chinese farmer who shot a giant panda and tried to sell its skin was sentenced to life imprisonment.
A census conducted in 2004 estimated that the wild giant panda population included approximately 1,600 animals. About 140 pandas live in zoos. It breeds rarely in captivity and mostly in China.
The density of pandas within the 6000 km 2 of Chinese panda reserves averaged one live per 9.3-10.7 km 2 .

Copyright holder: Zooclub portal
When reprinting this article, an active link to the source is MANDATORY, otherwise, use of the article will be considered a violation of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights.