Oldest known fossil of a giant panda
In 2007, a fossilized skull of the pygmy
giant panda (Ailuropoda microta) was
discovered in the Jinyin limestone cave in
Guangxi, southern China. The panda lived
in tropical bamboo forests in southern
China approximately 2–4 million years ago,
during the late Pliocene epoch.
The pygmy giant panda was also the
smallest giant panda. At 1 m (3 ft 3 in)
long, it was smaller than today’s giant panda
(A. melanoleuca) and in appearance resembled
a fat domestic dog. From the distinctive wear
pattern present on its teeth, scientists have
suggested that it fed on bamboo shoots, like
its larger, modern-day relative.Most primitive living bear
In terms of its evolutionary development and
delineation, the giant panda diverged from other
bears 18–25 million years ago. It is housed within
its own subfamily, Ailuropodinae (meaning
“black-and-white cat foot”).
At just 4.2 km² (1.6 sq mi) – slightly larger than
New York’s Central Park – the home range of
female giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains in
Shaanxi Province, China, is the smallest home
range recorded for a bear species.Most pandas born in one year
The record year for panda births was 2006,
during which 30 cubs were successfully born
into captivity. The majority of the cubs were
born at Wolong Panda Research Center in south-
west China, but the 30th was born at Adventure
World in Wakayama, Japan, on 23 Dec 2006.Most expensive species in captivity
The global population of giant pandas is
indigenous to – and owned by – China alone.
Four zoos in the US cities of San Diego, Atlanta,
Washington and Memphis each pay an annual
leasing fee of $1 m (£807,291) to the Chinese
government for a pair of these rare creatures.
If cubs are born, and twins sometimes result,
a one-off payment of $600,000 (£484,374)
per offspring must also be made. The money
goes towards China’s panda conservation
projects. A panda’s upkeep (including bamboo
production and security) makes it five times
more costly to maintain than the second
most expensive species: the elephant.Pandas
ANIMALS
FIRST PANDA
MADE KNOWN
TO SCIENCE
Ailurus fulgens, from
south-western China
and the eastern
Himalayas, was
formally described
and named in 1825
by French naturalist
Frédéric Cuvier. Four
years earlier, Major
General Thomas
Hardwicke had
presented a paper
to London’s Linnean
Society describing
and naming this
species. However,
Hardwicke’s paper
was not published
until 1827.Most restricted diet for a bear
More than 99% of the giant panda’s diet consists
of bamboo. The remaining <1% consists of
other plant material, small birds or rodents and
occasionally carrion. In captivity, it also eats
eggs, fruit, honey and fish. Pandas actually derive
little nutritional sustenance from bamboo, a very
poor source of protein and energy, and must
eat large quantities – up to 14 kg (30 lb 13 oz) of
bamboo shoots per day – to remain healthy.FIRST...
Written record of the lesser panda
References to the lesser or red panda
(A. fulgens) exist in a 13th-century Chinese
scroll. This document features a hunting scene
depicting the species and its human pursuers.
However, the lesser panda did not become
known to western science until 1821, by way
of a paper written by Major General Thomas
Hardwicke (see left).Living giant panda seen by a westerner
German zoologist Hugo Weigold purchased a
giant panda cub in 1916 while in the Chinese
province of Wassu, east of the Min River. At that
time, Weigold was participating in the Stoetzner
Expedition to western China and eastern Tibet,
and had been searching for giant pandas
without success. Despite his attempts to hand-
rear the cub, however, it died shortly afterwards,
owing to a lack of suitable food.Giant panda maintained outside China
Su-Lin (meaning “a little bit of something
precious”), a giant panda cub, was around
nine weeks old when found abandoned in
a tree hollow near the Min River of Sichuan
Province, China, in 1936. It was discovered
by American explorer Ruth Harkness,
who took Su-Lin back with her to the USA in
December of that year. Thought by Harkness
to be a female, the cub was actually a male.
Su-Lin was bottle-fed by Harkness and then,
in Apr 1937, sold to Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo.
He lived there until spring 1938, when he died
from choking on a twig, according to
the official post-mortem.A panda’s sense of smell is so well developed that
it can find bamboo at night by its scent alone.In 2011, entrepreneur
An Yanshi (CHN) began
growing green tea
fertilized with panda
poo; the tea sells for
440,000 yuan (£51,954;
$65,065) per kgThe panda’s black-and-
white colouration has been
compared to the Yin and
Yang symbol (above),
which the Chinese believe
represents the balance
of opposing forces in
the universeThe lesser (or red) panda’s
scientific name, Ailurus
fulgens, translates as
“fiery cat-bear”EMBARRASSMENT
The collective term for
a group of pandasGiant pandas are
very short-sightedOLDEST PANDA IN CAPTIVITY (EVER)
Jia Jia (“good”), a female giant panda, was born in 1978.
She arrived at Ocean Park Hong Kong in Mar 1999 and
remained there until passing away on 16 Oct 2016 at
the age of 38. The average life-span of giant pandas
is 18–20 years in the wild, and 30 years in captivity.
Wild pandas were once found all over southern and
eastern China and well into Myanmar and Vietnam, but
habitat loss and poaching have seen them become one
of the world’s most endangered animals.At the
party to
celebrate her
37th^ birthday (below)- by which time she was
already the oldest living
captive panda – Jia Jia
was presented with a
birthday cake made
out of fruit juice
and ice.
Q: How many digits do giant
pandas have on each paw?
A: Six. They have five fingers and
an opposable thumb.