A giant panda, a bamboo or Tibetan mountain bear - all these are the names of the same little-studied and on the verge of extinction animal. Due to its thick and fluffy white fur coat with black stripes , this species is easily recognizable. Black “glasses” around the eyes, large ears of the same color, a funny, good-natured face, the ability to sit evenly like a person, motion sickness of the cub in its paws made the panda a favorite of children in all zoos. However, its habitat is extremely narrow, and in the wild, these animals lead such a secretive lifestyle that scientists have not fully guessed their habits. So, until recently, it was not even clear to which family the large pandas belong - to bears, raccoons, or form an independent group.
Outwardly, this funny animal is more like a bear. The Chinese peasants were right when they called the bei shuang beast (literally: polar bear). However, researchers for quite a while considered this creature of exorbitant size a raccoon, because the large panda has common anatomical features with a small one, which is unconditionally considered as such. However, comparing all the signs and studying the panda genome, modern scientists nevertheless delivered a verdict: the bamboo bear is still a bear! At the beginning of the Miocene, that is, 18-25 million years ago, as a result of evolution, the branch of the big panda separated from the main line of bears. And the external resemblance to a raccoon is not explained by a common origin, but by the preservation of certain signs in the same natural conditions.
Where does the panda live and what does it eat? This rare beast lives only in the mountain (1200–4000 m above sea level) forests of several provinces of China - Gansu, Tibet and Sichuan. Ancient animal remains are found in the mountains of Indochina and the islands of Kalimantan. This bear in the process of evolution almost completely switched to a vegetarian diet: 99% of the food consumed by panda is found in bamboo shoots. According to the old bear habit, she does not mind eating honey, fish, roots, and does not even shun carrion.
But still the big panda prefers bamboo to all this. It is so firmly connected with bamboo forests that it became her curse. The fact is that bamboo grows quickly, grows into a grove, but then, after 40-50 years, it blooms and dies very quickly, and the next young shoot appears only after 3-4 years. Previously, these animals simply moved to new territories, but now, when the forests are areas separated by fields, roads and settlements, they are doomed to starvation. After all, if such animals eat monotonous food, which is also absorbed by only 17%, they should save energy. Panda prefers to lead a sedentary lifestyle, and those 14 hours when she is awake, she must chew something all the time.
The big panda is actually a small bear. Her height is about a meter and 65 centimeters, weight - about 100 kilograms. Females are slightly smaller than males. The tail is larger than that of other bears - 12 cm. In the wild, this rare species lives for 14–20 years, and in zoos, with constant care and veterinary care, up to 26 years. Pandas make sounds unlike the roar of a predator. To express friendship, they faintly bleach like lambs; with irritation and grief the beast buzzes; animals squeal in pain, “champ” when they want to express a threat, and “tweet” during mating. The cubs whimper and squeal.
A large panda gives birth to two cubs (less often than one or three). However, she soon chooses a larger and healthier cub, and the rejected mother dies. To prevent the death of an already rare beast, scientists in zoos take one cub, and then change it in a day. Thus, they manage to deceive the mother and raise two cubs at once. This beast is listed in the International Red Book, and in China it is declared a national treasure of the country. Now no more than one and a half thousand live in nature, with a maximum of 1,600 giant pandas. Another 140 individuals live in zoos.