22 Facts About Giant panda

Giant panda, known as the panda bear, is a bear species endemic to China.

Giant panda has often served as China's national symbol, appeared on Chinese Gold Panda coins since 1982 and as one of the five Fuwa mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Many decades, the precise taxonomic classification of the giant panda was under debate because it shares characteristics with both bears and raccoons.

However, molecular studies indicate the giant panda is a true bear, part of the family Ursidae.

The name xiongmao was originally used to describe the red panda, but since the giant panda was thought to be closely related to the red panda, daxiongmao was named relatively.

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In Taiwan, another popular name for panda is the inverted damaoxiong, though many encyclopediae and dictionaries in Taiwan still use the "bear cat" form as the correct name.

Two subspecies of giant panda have been recognized on the basis of distinct cranial measurements, colour patterns, and population genetics.

Giant panda's paw has a "thumb" and five fingers; the "thumb" – actually a modified sesamoid bone – helps it to hold bamboo while eating.

Giant panda genome was sequenced in 2009 using Illumina dye sequencing.

However, the giant panda still has the digestive system of a carnivore, as well as carnivore-specific genes, and thus derives little energy and little protein from consumption of bamboo.

The giant panda is a highly specialised animal with unique adaptations, and has lived in bamboo forests for millions of years.

The giant panda tends to limit its social interactions and avoids steeply sloping terrain to limit its energy expenditures.

Giant panda is a terrestrial animal and primarily spends its life roaming and feeding in the bamboo forests of the Qinling Mountains and in the hilly province of Sichuan.

The first Westerner known to have seen a living giant panda is the German zoologist Hugo Weigold, who purchased a cub in 1916.

Giant panda's was taxidermized by E Gerrard and Sons and sold to Leeds City Museum where she is currently on display to the public.

Pandas have been kept in zoos as early as the Western Han Dynasty in China, where the writer Sima Xiangru noted that the Giant panda was the most treasured animal in the emperor's garden of exotic animals in the capital Chang'an .

Giant panda is a vulnerable species, threatened by continued habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, and by a very low birthrate, both in the wild and in captivity.

Giant panda has been a target of poaching by locals since ancient times and by foreigners since it was introduced to the West.

Giant panda is among the world's most adored and protected rare animals, and is one of the few in the world whose natural inhabitant status was able to gain a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

Giant panda quoted, "The panda is possibly one of the grossest wastes of conservation money in the last half century", though he has apologised for upsetting people who like pandas.

Efforts to preserve the Giant panda bear populations in China have come at the expense of other animals in the region, including snow leopards, wolves, and dholes.

Microbes in Giant panda waste are being investigated for their use in creating biofuels from bamboo and other plant materials.