The giant panda is a beautiful animal that has spread luck and happiness across a nation. The giant panda is often considered the national animal of China. Sadly, the giant panda population is very low, with only an estimated 2000 left in the wild. Their population is not prolific due to their habitats being cut down. Many reserves have been built to save the species, but giant pandas are still endangered. It is very important to be knowledgeable about the species in order for the giant pandas to be saved. This paper will cover the scientific classification of giant pandas, their characteristics, their appearance, their diet, their enemies, their young, and their habitat.
Below is the classification of giant pandas.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
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Rather, their young are born alive. Baby giant pandas are fed milk by their mother. Giant pandas are also warm blooded, meaning that their body temperatures stay the same, unchanged by their surrounding environment. They are vertebrates as well, meaning that they have a backbone. Although giant pandas have standard mammal characteristics such as these, they are still very unique animals.
Giant pandas have a very striking appearance. They have a sizable white head and body, with black circles around their large, round eyes. Giant pandas have black ears and paws and look incredibly bear-like. On their backside, one would find a small white tail. Giant pandas have very distinct, noticeable characteristics. It is important that giant pandas eat about 20-40 pounds of bamboo a day, hence, it makes up 99% of their diet. Pandas are in the order Carnivora in their classification, and that is because they have many carnivorous attributes, such as their large pointed teeth. In the wild, giant pandas have even been seen eating fish and small rodents. Although giant pandas can be predators, they do not sit atop the food chain. There are a few animals that prey on giant
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As mentioned previously, they are born alive. A mother giant panda can give birth to as many as two or three cubs, although she often cannot care for all of them. The cubs that cannot be cared for are usually left to die. Panda cubs stay with their mothers for about 18 months in the wild.
Giant pandas used to roam throughout Southern and Eastern China, although now they are mainly restricted to the forest covered Qinling and Minshan mountains. The Qinling and Minshan mountains are located in the North and West of the Sichuan Plain. The Qinling mountains are in the West, while the Minshan mountains are in the North. About 750 giant pandas live in the Minshan Mountains. That is roughly 45% of the giant panda population.
The giant panda population may be low (2000 are estimated to be in the wild, supposing there has not been a full panda count since 2004), although there are many reserves and captive breeding programs that giant pandas are thriving in. The World Wildlife Fund states that the population of giant pandas is steadily increasing. While turning through these pages, one would have learned about the scientific classification of giant pandas, characteristics that make them mammals, their appearance, their diet, their enemies, their young, and their habitat. Eventually, future generations may be able to witness the giant panda roaming throughout China once
The major threat to their survival is the restricted and degraded habitats (Wang and Garshelis). Their habitat is not just one big area of land. In actuality, the Giant Panda’s habitat is fragmented and separated into small patches, each supporting a small population of the pandas. This fragmentation in habitat was caused by logging, deforestation, mining, poaching and by lightning speed economic development (Threats). Logging had been found to separate the once well integrated Giant Panda habitat into many sub sections (Zhou and Pan 363) and their forest habitats became increasingly fragmented by roads and railroads (Threats). Clearing the land in Giant Panda habitats had been another reason for the fragmentation of the Giant Panda’s habitat (Wang and Garshelis). The animal had been pushed higher and higher into the mountains, as their lower and flatter habitats were seized for human for agricultural activity (Wang and Garshelis). The small population due to the fragmentation is also a factor in the decrease in the population size. Studies have shown that small populations lead to a loss of genetic diversity and can lead to problems of inbreeding (Zhou and Pan
Grizzly bears are enormous bears; that, tend to be misunderstood by others. Many times, they are portrayed wrongly in movies and tv shows. People may go off by things they see; in the movies and immediately suggest that’s the way the grizzly bear is. If others took the time to find information on the grizzly they would see how wrong the movies are about them. For many people grizzly bears can be a mystery such as where they live, what they eat, and whether they hibernate or not. However, with a bit of research answers can be found.
they are at the top of the food chain of the grassland plants and animals. Grizzly bears are powerful, top-of-the-food-chain predators, yet much of their diet consists of nuts, berries, fruit, leaves, and roots. Bears also
Nancy Chen . “Panda Kung Fu’s His Way Around The World”. US China Today. Published June 20, 2008. Accessed November 10, 2013.
* Polar bears do not hibernate. Females will, however, dig dens in the snow and give birth to their cubs in the winter. The den provides insulation and protection until the sow and her cubs emerge.
Out of an Ice Age emerged one of our most majestic creatures in the world the polar bear. From its brown bear ancestry, the predator evolved to be a master of a harsh and unwelcoming ice kingdom. Intelligent, adaptable and fierce, the polar bear learned how to survive in a place that offers few comforts to any creature. But now that very environment is in flux. And so is the polar bear’s fate (Nature). Polar Bears are very different from other bears. Polar bears are very large bears compared to Black bears. Polar bears weigh anywhere between 330-1700lbs and Black bears weigh anywhere between 150-600lbs. They have strong legs with large, flattened feet with some webbing between their toes that help with walking on ice and swimming. The wide paws prevent sea ice from breaking by distributing weight while walking. Their paws allow them to pull a 600 pound seal out of its breathing hole (Rosing, 20). The webbed feet results in making polar bears, unlike other bear species to be considered as marine mammals along with seals, sea lions, walruses, whales and dolphins (Polar Bear). According to Rosing Polar bears are excellent swimmers and have been known to swim up to six miles an hour and as far as 60 miles at a stretch. The bears paddle with their front feet and steer with their back feet. They often overheat. Sometimes they venture into the waters just to cool off. When a bear climbs on an ice floe, it shakes itself off because it is trying to prevent ice from forming on its fur (22-23). Because of climate change and hunting of polar bears are now becoming an endangered species which is affecting the food chain. We can fix this by going green, banning polar bear hunting and keep creating these new hybrid bears that are mixed with griz...
There has been an estimated 1,000 or less red pandas left in Nepal and due to the increasing population their forest homes are being chopped down and used for timber. Since the red pandas home is also home to many other rare and endangered species banning poaching
The plant life In China is very varied. The natural forests are in the far-off mountain areas, where you can find are oak, ginkgo, pine, azalea, and camellia. Also, a tree that would come to everyone’s mind as they think of China, is the bamboo.
... a day, they do not pass waste as often as other creatures. The larger colon allows the giant panda to consume its enormous bamboo diet by helping the giant panda control its waste for longer periods of time, thus limiting the amount of times a giant panda must stop for restroom breaks.
The white tiger is one of the biggest in the cat family. The white tiger is long it can grow up to 3.3 meters long and weigh as much as 300 kilograms hard to carry. Subspecies of the white tiger like Sumatran Tiger, Amur(or Siberian) Tiger, Indian (or Bengal) tiger, south china tiger, malayan tiger,indo-chinese tiger,bali tiger,javan tiger,caspian tiger thats extinct theres nine subspecies of the white tiger.A lot of subspecies are endangered or extinct because people hunt them for their fur to make jackets or sweaters and destroying their habitat.Some tiger cubs don’t live to be an adult because around half of the cubs die around 2-3 years of age.The cubs leave their mother at around 2 years old they live a long time because their mom taught them what they would know from eating to hiding from people.A group of tigers is called ambush or streak because the group may be hunting.You probably thought these tigers can’t swim because they are in the cat family but if you do you are wrong because ...
...ing pandas pose for pictures. The pandas are starved so they will be more obedient when being photographed. Jill Robinson of Animals Asia: ''They are clearly victims of training using negative reinforcement, constant beating and lack of food until they get the trick right. '' To make sure the bears do not pose a threat to their trainers, they have their teeth and claws filed down. Animals are deprived of their basic right to live healthily.
Of the 321 elephant deaths for which The Times had complete records, half were by age 23, more than a quarter before their expected life spans of 50 to 60 years. For every elephant born in a zoo, on average two die. At that rate, the 288 elephants inside the 78 U.S. zoos could be “demographically extinct” within the next 50 years because there’ll be too few fertile females left to breed, according to zoo industry research (Berens 4). Most people think that zoos protect animals, but it can clearly be seen in the records provided by the Times that the zoos are doing the exact opposite of protecting animals. The American zoos, including the accredited ones, have led to the near demise of elephants.
Red Pandas are very much like raccoons, they are very peaceful creatures too! These Pandas have distance markings and markings. They have reddish-brown fur on its upper body, which is used for camouflage. It has a white snout and ears, with white streaks on their face. Red Pandas look nothing like an ordinary panda, this Panda has similar characteristics to a raccoon. It has a covering of red fur like the raccoon. The Red Panda is very small, the body size can range from twenty to twenty-five inches. Also they can weigh up to 8-12 pounds. They have very interesting and unique features. The Red Panda like the Giant Panda has an extra thumb which is used to grip things. They also have extra long whiskers which is used to navigate their environment at night. The Red Panda doesn't live very long compared to a human. The average life span of a Red Panda is 8-12 years. This creature rests during the day and is alive during the night. They are nocturnal which means that they hunt during the night and sleep during the day.
The ears, eye patches, legs, and shoulder band are black. The rest of the body is whitish. Adults are 4 to 6 feet long and may weigh up to 350 pounds, about the same size as the American black bear. However, unlike the black bear, giant pandas do not hibernate and cannot walk on their hind legs. The giant panda has unique front paws-one of the wrist bones is enlarged and elongated and is used like a thumb, enabling the giant panda to grasp stalks of bamboo. They also have very powerful jaws and teeth to crush bamboo.
The Hyena eats mostly wildebeests, gazelles, zebra, buffalo, rhino calves, and most species of ungulates. The Hyena mostly gets its food by hunting packs or alone, or by scavenging after kills of other animals or other Hyenas. The hunting usually takes place at night when they are most active. When the kill their prey they rip their prey from limb to limb and usually eats the whole carcass of its prey. To do that Hyenas massive jaws contains teeth so strong and so sharp to crush bones of its prey. Hyenas store their food underwater to to hide from other carnivores stealing the left over meat. One Hyena can eat up to 14.5 kilograms of meat per meal. Hyenas can spot and will usually try to hunt the young, weak, diseased, injured, or dead prey, but if drove extreme hunger it can take down a full grown male lion.