Wild Pandas

The Panda's natural home is in the wild. For Pandas, the wild is a bamboo forest in a mountainous region of China. We really know very little about how wild Pandas live since so very few people have seen them. Indeed, it is true that more people from the western world have reached the summit of mount Everest than have witnessed a Panda in its natural environment.

Mother and Baby.

Pandas are born into extremely harsh climates and as such, the mother Panda introduces her new arrival into the world with extreme caution. The newly born, pink, mouse-like animal is carried by its mother in her mouth. When the mother goes out, she must keep it in her mouth to avoid it crying and attracting predators. Within about six weeks, the Panda can crawl around. The mother Panda still carries the baby with her, but allows it to walk on one of her paws whilst she walks on just three. Five months later and the young Panda walks alongside its mother. After a year, the wild Panda cub goes its separate way.

A Typical Day

A typical day for a Giant Panda is dominated with eating. It will spend considerably more than half the day eating away at bamboo shoots, stems and leaves.

Amazingly, a Panda will eat more than 14 kilograms of Bamboo in any individual day, and up to 36kg a day when the shoots are fresh and sweet in spring . Altogether, this amounts to one Panda munching its way through 4500 kilograms of food in a year.

There is a very good reason for Pandas eating such large quantities of food. In the past, Pandas have been carnivores (meat-eaters) but as their diet changed, their digestive systems didn't. It is true that the intestine of a Panda is too short to properly digest the bamboo meaning that such huge amounts are required to ensure that sufficient nourishment is found.