Fun Facts About The Panda
Have you ever looked at a panda and thought “awww how cute”. We’ll bet you know little or nothing about the giant panda which is both endangered and celebrated. There are few panda’s left in the wild and you are more likely to see one in a zoo than find one in the forests. You can adopt one with Udopt but before you do you may want to learn one or two things about this beautiful animal.
- Ailuropoda melanoleuca is the scientific name of the Giant Panda and this literally means “black and white cat-footed animal’.
- There have been fossils found which date Pandas back at least 600,000 years
- There has been debate over what type of animal the Panda is. In 1985 it was determined the giant panda is actually a bear though the lesser panda is more closely related to the racooon.
- After mating, the male panda leaves and plays no part in raising cubs.
- A giant panda paw has five fingers plus there is an extension that is sometimes called a sixth finger that works as a thumb.
- Giant pandas frequently have phantom pregnancies. The only time we can definitely determine a panda is pregnant is just 24 hours before birth.
- A newborn panda weighs only five ounces.
- In 1985 a giant panda in China had a cataract successfully removed.
- Giant Pandas have successfully bred in zoos all over the world.
- From 2010 pandas born in captivity in China have been handled by researchers dressed in panda suits so as to prepare them for a life in the wild.