1) How many pandas are there in the world?
It is estimated that there are about 1590 pandas still living in the wild. There are more pandas in china than any other countries. Most of the bears that remain in the wild live in a chain of fourteen reserves that were established by the Chinese government. Today, it is estimated that only 700 pandas remain in the wild. There are another 200 of the bears in zoos (mostly in China). Although they were once more widespread, today they are limited to six small areas in Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanzi provinces, totaling only 14,000 square kilometers (5,400 square miles).
2) When were pandas first discovered and what’s the natural habitat for a panda?
1869, pandas are discovered by Armand David (a French missionary.)The natural habitat is they live in broadleaf and coniferous forests with a lot of bamboo which elevations are between 5000 and 10000ft. Giant Pandas live in the mountains and forests of China. Their habitat is the bamboo forests of the Tibetan plateau and southwest China 4,000 to 12,000 ft above sea level. Panda bears are vegetarian animals and they feed 21-22 hours per day on bamboo to get the required sustenance to support their large size.
4)Where are panda’s from and what did pandas evolve from?
Pandas are from south Asia. Pandas are evolved from the earliest pandas, small forest-dwelling creatures for millions of years until about the time of the late Pilocene 3 million years ago when larger pandas developed. Giant Pandas evolved in just the same way as all other life on Earth, by natural selection of breeding stock from each generation. This is
sometimes called 'survival of the fittest', which can be misleading if
fitness is taken to mean strength or aggression. Fitness has a
specialized within evolutionary biology, it means 'the ability to
leave viable offspring'. The smallest, weakest individual in a population
can therefore be among the fittest if it manages to breed and successfully
raise its young.
6)What is the scientific classification of pandas and are pandas mammals or marsupials?
(Genus and species, family, order): Ailuropoda, Melanoleuca, Urside, Carnivora are the scientific classification of pandas. Pandas are mammals not marsupials because they produce their own body heat and have live births. Marsupials are mammals with pouches to carry their young in, but pandas do not have a pouch where the babies live for the first part of their lives. A example of a marsupials is kangaroos.
Notes
You probably think about what do people think when they live near pandas in south Asia well let me tell you that Chinese people like to live near them and there is a law that strictly protect pandas. These people aren’t scared of this creature because they are very shy, and like most other wild animals, they run away if possible when they encounter people. Pandas are hard to spot because they live in thick bamboo in old growth forest. Pandas go into villages to get food but they avoid the people.
Bibliography:
1) http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/panda/37997.htm
2) http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1927/november_9_1927_87078.html
3) http://www.wwfchina.org/english/pandacentral/htm/learn_about_giant_panda/panda_q_a/people_pandas%20.htm
4) http://grizzlybear.org/bearbook/panda_bear.htm
5) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Are_Pandas_mammals_and_why
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