Scientists currently estimate the population of the giant panda at only 1,600, making pandas an endangered species. There are approximately 200 in captivity in reserves, zoos and wild life parks. Four zoos in the US currently have pandas: San Diego, Memphis, Atlanta and Washington D.C. Pandas are also found in zoos in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Mexico, France, Spain, Austria and soon in Australia. Zoos outside of China must lease the animals from the Chinese government. This money is used for preservation of the wild pandas

After years of debate, scientists have determined through DNA testing that the giant panda is actually a member of the bear family. It was once though that the panda might be of the raccoon family. The scientific name of the panda is Ailuropoda Melanoleuca.

Pandas are classified as carnivores. However, their diet is closer to that of herbivores.  A carnivore is an animal that eats mostly meat. An herbivore is an animal that eats mostly plants.
The pandas’ diet consists almost entirely of bamboo stalks, shoots and roots. They eat from 25 to 40 pounds per day. When available, pandas will eat fish, flowers and small animals. Pandas in captivity also receive milk, eggs, ground meat and specially formulated vitamin bread. Apples and carrots are a favorite treat of pandas.

Since the pandas’ digestive system is not very efficient, they must consume large quantities of bamboo every day, in order to obtain the nutrition they need. Young pandas are especially prone to digestive problems.

Pandas eat for up to 14 hours a day. Their unique paws make it possible for them to hold the bamboo and bite the stalks. They generally eat in a sitting position but also like to snack while lying on their backs.

The puffy cheeks that make the pandas appear so adorable are actually powerful muscles that enable the pandas to chew through even the toughest bamboo stalks.

Unlike other bears, pandas do not store fat and therefore do not hibernate. Consequently, they are constantly in search of food.
           
One problem for wild pandas is that the bamboo species found in the Nature Reserves experience a die off where the bamboo forest will flower and die en mass. It takes several years for the bamboo to return to the effected area. In the past, pandas would migrate to other areas in search for new plants. Now, with their range fragmented, this is often difficult.
Pandas drink water from the rivers and streams in their mountain habitat.

Pandas are known around the world for their unique black and white appearance. Pandas resemble other bears in their shape, but have very distinctive markings. All pandas have black patches around their eyes, and black ears on a white head. Their legs are black and there is a black band across their backs. Their mid sections are also white. It is very difficult to tell pandas apart since their markings are basically the same on all animals. The panda caretakers can identify individual pandas by small markings around their mouth or muzzle.

Panda fur is coarse, dense and somewhat oily. Their thick fur acts like a raincoat to keep the panda warm in the cool moist climate of the mountain forests. It also helps the panda maintain its body temperature in the snow of the high elevations where the wild pandas now live.

Unlike other bears, pandas are slow moving and seldom move faster than a walk. They appear clumsy in their movement.

The front paws of a panda are very different from other bears due to a special bone found in their wrists. The panda’s sixth toe, an opposable thumb, is used for grasping bamboo. The panda uses this bone in the same way humans use their thumbs and it is often referred to as the “Panda's Thumb.”

Pandas leave scent marks in their territories. The scent marks serve as a major form of communication. Pandas can determine from the scent if another panda is in the area, if the other panda is male or female, how recently they left their scent, and if it’s a female, if they are in a reproductive period.

To mark their location, pandas will back up to a tree and rub their scent glands on the tree, then use their tail to spread the scent. Pandas sometimes engage in "handstand marking" in which they stand on their paws and rest their bodies against a tree while marking. This is thought to communicate the size of the panda.

Pandas can make 11 distinct vocalizations. This indicates highly evolved communications which allow them to communicate with other pandas. Their vocalizations can convey many emotions including distress, pain, or friendship.  A bark is used to ward off an enemy. Cubs make a very loud squeaky cry.

Breeding maturity in the pandas is generally between four and eight years. Females breed only once a year, in the spring. Pandas tend to have a low reproductive rate partly because the females only ovulate two of three days a year. In the wild, the pandas use scent and calls to locate a mate during the reproduction period.
           
Fragmentation of the panda habitat is a major problem in the reproduction of wild pandas. When towns, roads, power lines prevent the free movement from one area to another the male panda cannot reach the female.
           
Pandas nest on the ground or in hollow trees, giving birth approximately 100 to 150 days after they have mated. Hollow trees are becoming scarcer thus creating another problem for breeding.

Females give birth to one or two cubs. Triplets are extremely rare. If twins are born, usually only one survives in the wild. The mother will select the stronger of the cubs and the weaker will die. It is thought that the mother cannot produce enough milk for two cubs since she does not store fat.

Cubs will stay with their mothers for about two years, thus females only reproduce every other year. 

Many zoos have tried to breed pandas, but with limited success. The breeding centers in China use both natural mating and artificial insemination.

Like all bears, panda babies are called cubs. Newborn cubs weight 4 to 8 ounces and are about 6 to 8 inches long, about the size of a stick of butter. They are born pink, with almost no hair, and blind. At about 1 week they begin to develop their distinctive black and white markings and at 5 to 7 weeks they start to open their eyes. 

The mother holds the cub to her chest, much like a human mother. In size, compared to their mothers, panda cubs are one of the smallest newborns.Panda cubs are especially vulnerable since pandas don't den and hibernate as other bears do. In the wild, Pandas nest in hollow tree trunks or caves. The newborns won't be able to even stand on their own for nearly 4 months. Some-times new mothers do not seem to know how to take care of their cubs. In captivity, they are then raised by caretakers using incubators in the nurseries at the Panda Reserves.

When twins are born, mother pandas cannot usually care for both cubs. In the wild, the mother will select the stronger of the two cubs. At the Panda Reserves, the caretakers in the nursery leave one cub with the mother for her to care for and place one in the nursery in an incubator. In the nursery, the staff hand feeds the cub and stays with them 24 hours a day, everyday. After about a week, the cubs are exchanged or “swapped” so both cubs will bond with their mother and receive her care. The mother accepts both babies, but only one at a time. This process of exchanging the cubs, which was developed at the Wolong Panda Center, allows both of the cubs to survive in captivity. The Wolong Panda Center now has a 90% survival rate with captive born cubs, due in large part to their method used to raise twins. At one year the cubs weigh between 70 to 80 pounds.  At five to six years the panda will reach maturity. A fully grown panda will reach a weight of anywhere between 165 to 350 pounds with the males being much larger than the females. 

Older pandas spend most of their time eating or sleeping but younger pandas like to play. They play with other pandas, running and chasing each other, climbing trees, and tumbling on the ground. Pandas are truly "roly poly" creatures when they play.

In captivity, they like "toys" which must be very sturdy and durable to stand up to their large teeth and powerful jaws.

The pandas are well suited to their environment. They can swim in the mountain streams and enjoy the winter snow.

The Giant Panda was once widespread in southern and eastern China, Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma). Today the panda is limited to the mountains in a few Chinese provinces in southwestern China. Most of the pandas are in China’s Sichuan Province, but they are also found in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Their range is along the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. 

Giant pandas do not have a permanent den and do not hibernate. In the winter they will seek shelter in hollow trees.

The Giant Panda has lived for centuries in coniferous forests with dense undergrowth of bamboo at elevations of 5,000 to 11,000 feet. Rain or dense mist throughout the year shrouds these remote forests in heavy clouds. In the winter snow is common.

Today, these forests are under attack by dramatic increases in human population. Agriculture, ranching, logging, trapping, and human settlement dramatically threaten their habitat. Previously, they lived at lower elevations but farming and clearing of the forest have pushed them higher into the mountains.

The panda’s primary food source, bamboo is decreasing. Bamboo grows under the shade cover of the large fir trees. Logging and clearing the land for agricultural uses is a major factor in the reduction of bamboo. The 8.0 earthquake of 2008 was in Sichuan Province, home to the Giant Pandas. The quake buried much of the pandas’ bamboo under rock and mud slides.

The impact of rapid population growth has seen the destruction of significant panda habitat. In an effort to defend the panda, the Chinese government enforces a logging ban in the panda reserves.
           
Today there are 40 panda reserves in China. These reserves need to be connected via corridors in order to reduce isolation and fragmentation of the panda population. Villages and human activities now block open range for migration. The fragmentation of panda areas contributes significantly to mating and reproduction difficulties.            

Another problem related to the fragmentation of the panda areas is that the bamboo will flower and then die off about every 20 years.  When this occurs, the pandas need to migrate to a new area.  There have been reports of pandas starving when they are unable to find bamboo in new areas.

The May 12, 2008 earthquake epicenter was just a few miles from the Wolong Panda Center. Aftershocks continued for days. In a 24 hour period, 178 aftershocks were monitored in the quake zone. There were approximately 70,000 deaths from the quake, 20,000 missing and 375,000 injured. 1.4 million quake survivors were evacuated. 
           
Five staff members of the Wolong Nature Reserve were killed. One panda, Mao Mao was killed by the collapse of the exterior wall in her enclosure.

Xiao Xiao escaped from his enclosure and is still listed as “missing.” Another panda died following the earthquake when roads were blocked and he could not be transported to medical care. Qing Qing was injured when her enclosure collapse on her but was treated and is doing well.
           
W ild pandas certainly died as a result of the earthquake but no estimates to the number are available. Several pandas have been coming down from the mountains in search of food.  One wild panda has been found dead from starvation due to the destruction of the bamboo.            

Devastation to the bamboo as a result of the earthquake will continue for many years. The earthquake dramatically increased the challenges for this fragile endangered species.

A study in 2004 by the Chinese Department of Forestry estimated the current population of the wild Giant Pandas at approximately 1,600. There are about 200 pandas in captivity.

Pandas are on the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Threatened Animals. The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) protects giant pandas, as does the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 

While hunting and poaching have been reduced due to strict laws by the Chinese government, accidental trapping of pandas in traps set for other animals posses a serious problem. Low birth rates and problems with reproduction also limit the numbers. 

The future of the panda is interwoven with the Chinese people. New advances in environmentally responsible farming, high yield crops to reduce logging, and population control efforts will all help the pandas. 

The Chinese Government has several projects for reforesting hillsides, protecting grasslands and nature reserves for the pandas. There are also plans to pay farmers to turn cropland back to forest and to establish commercial tree farms to replace logging. A replanting project to restore the bamboo damaged in the 2008 earthquake is currently underway in the Sichuan Province.

The outlook for the giant pandas is linked to aggressive conservation efforts as well as successful captive breeding. Biological diversity and sustainability are essential for the species survival.

Human incursion into the panda’s native region has resulted in a dramatic degradation of the panda's habitat and food supply. The biodiversity of the region is at significant risk.

This magnificent animal, a survivor of the ice age and centuries beyond, is now in grave danger of becoming extinct. The survival of each living animal becomes crucial to the survival of the species; each animal, those in captivity and in the wild, must be attended to on a daily basis if they are sick or injured. Without proper medical equipment and medicines, pandas will die and each death brings us one step closer to a world without these unique creatures and one step closer to the destruction of yet another species and its eco-system.