PANDAS
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 its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda, a neighboring musteloid. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a folivore, with bamboo shoots and leaves making up more than 99% of its diet.Giant pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.
A 2007 report showed 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.As of December 2014, 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 different countries.
Some reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise.In March 2015, conservation news site Mongabay stated that the wild giant panda population had increased by 268, or 16.8%, to 1,864.
WHERE WILL YOU FIND THEM?
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan, but also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu.As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived, and it is a conservation-reliant vulnerable species.