PANDA

The giant panda, also known as the panda bear or simply the panda, is a bear native to south central China. It is characterised by large, black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda, a neighboring musteloid.

Potential predators include jackals, snow leopards and yellow-throated martens, all of which are capable of killing and eating panda cubs.

Pandas live mainly in temperate forests high in the mountains of southwest China, where they subsist almost entirely on bamboo. They must eat around 26 to 84 pounds of it every day, depending on what part of the bamboo they are eating. They use their enlarged wrist bones that function as opposable thumbs.

WHERE WILL YOU FIND THEM?

In the wild, giant pandas are only found in the remote, mountainous regions of central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, according to the National Zoo. In this area, between 5,000 and 10,000 feet elevation (1,524 - 3,048 m), are the cool, wet bamboo forests that giant panda's call home.