The living habits of Giant Panda

Giant pandas belong to carnivorous giant panda family of mammals, has survived on earth for at least 8 million years, known as "living fossils" and "China's national treasure", the image ambassador of the World Wide Fund for Nature, the world's wild giant pandas less than 1600, belonging to China's first-class protected animals, let's take a look at the living habits of giant pandas!

food habit

Omnivorous. Giant pandas are originally carnivorous, but also have carnivorous potential, but rarely prey on animals or animal carcasses, this is not that it does not like meat, but lack of opportunities. Because there are very few large carnivores in the panda's distribution area, there are not many remains left for it to eat. If you often catch mice and other small animals, the nutrition you get is often not enough to compensate for the energy consumed. Therefore, giant pandas can only eat a little meat occasionally, and most of the time they rely on bamboo to maintain their lives, becoming a life-long animal that follows the rules and lives by bamboo.

habitat

Giant panda habitat in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China's mountains and valleys, for the southeast monsoon windward side, warm and humid climate, its humidity is often more than 80%, is a hygrophilous animals. Giant pandas live in 6 narrow belts, including Minshan Mountain, Qionglai Mountain, Liangshan Mountain, Daxiangling Mountain, Xiaoxiangling Mountain and Qinling Mountain, spanning 45 counties (cities) in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The habitat area is more than 20000 square kilometers, and the population is about 1600, of which more than 80% are distributed in Sichuan. The active areas are mostly in valleys, mountain belly depressions, river valley terraces, etc., generally in gentle slope terrain below 20°, where forests are lush, bamboo grows well, the temperature is relatively stable, the hidden conditions are good, and food resources and water sources are abundant.

behavior characteristics

Giant pandas spend half their time eating and most of the rest sleeping. In the wild, giant pandas sleep for two to four hours between meals, lying flat, on their sides, prone, stretched or curled up. In zoos, keepers feed them regularly twice a day, so pandas spend the rest of their time resting. Giant pandas look cute even when they sleep. They are extremely flexible and can put their heavy bodies into various positions. Their favorite position is to support their legs on trees and cover their eyes with their hands.

breeding habits

Giant pandas inhabit dense forests. When they grow to a certain stage, they need to mate and give birth, namely, estrus, courtship, mating, pregnancy and cub rearing. Female giant pandas come into estrus once a year, only for a short period of 2~3 days each time. The estrus period usually occurs in March ~ May every year. Adult male and female giant pandas gradually gather in one place and understand and attract each other mainly through smell and smell communication. When they reach the climax of estrus, they express their love and mate through continuous bleating, bird singing and waiting posture. Giant panda gestation period is 83~200 days, cubs are usually born in August, when the mother of giant pandas, in order to the next generation of life safety, a change in the past docile temper, alert heart is very heavy, do not allow any animal (including people) close to its sacred baby.

tending habit

Giant panda newborns are quite immature at birth, weighing only 0.1% of their mother's weight. The newborn cubs weigh very little, with an average birth weight of about 145 grams, about one thousandth of the adult giant panda's weight. The lightest is 51 grams, and the heaviest is 225 grams. Caring for her cubs is a daunting task for a female panda, usually lasting 18 months and sometimes as long as two years until her next cub is born. In the wild, if twins are born, the mother often ignores or rejects the weaker one, ensuring that at least one survives. In captivity, captive breeding is carried out and cub replacement techniques are used to ensure that all giant panda cubs survive as much as possible.