Giant Pandas Essay, Research Paper

THE GIANT PANDA

Giant pandas are very rare. Most people have never seen one even in a zoo.They are in danger of disappearing altogther. There may be only around 1,000 giant pandas left in the world.

Giant pandas live in western China. They live high in the mountains in thick bamboo forests. Pandas have disappeared because the bamboo forests have vanished. Some were cut down by humans and some have died off on their own.

The Chinesepeople love the pandas andhave set aside large areas for the pandas to live on.No one is allowed to cut downthe foresrts on this land.

Bamboo is the most important food. Bamboo is actually a kind of grass, but it can grow as tall as trees, Bamboo stays green and tender all year round even in winter. Pandas like the young leaves but they will eat the thick stalks if they have to.

pandas have five fingers on each hand. They also have a thumb on each hand. The thumb is actually a wrist bone that helps them hold stalks of bamboo. A pandas teeth are 7 times larger thenhuman teeth that they need to crush the bamboo stalks.

Bamboo is the panda’s primary food, but pandas will eat meat, including fish and rats. Pandas eat flowers,too. Like other bears pandas are fond of honey.

Giant pandas have very few enemys. Young pandas are sometimes eaten by wild dogs and leopards, but most escape because they are hard to find in their natural habitat. Pandas glide silently through the forest, hidden in the thick bamboo. In snowy conditions they blend into the background which makes them hard to see.

Giant pandas are very intelligent. Trainers in zoos have been able to teach them to do many tricks. Giant pandas can do somersaults, ride a bicycle, play catch, toss a basketball through a hoop, and even eat with a knife and fork!

Most of the pandas that are in zoos are in China, unless you go to China you probably won’t be able to see one at all. But last week 2 pandas were delivered to Washington D.C. so we will keep an eye on how that works out.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Giant Panda, by Carl Green 1987

Pandas by Miriam Schlein 1988

Giant Pandas of Western China, by Frank Schaffer,1999