A bear native to a handful of mountain ranges in central China, instantly recognizable by its black and white coat, and unusual among bears for a diet that is almost entirely bamboo despite a digestive system still built like that of a carnivore, extracting relatively little energy from each mouthful and compensating by eating for most of its waking hours. A modified wrist bone functions as a false thumb, letting the panda grip bamboo stalks with a precision most bears cannot manage. Decades of habitat protection and captive breeding, paired with China's reclassification of panda habitat into a connected network of reserves, moved the giant panda off the Endangered list in 2016, though its range remains fragmented into more than thirty isolated pockets of forest that limit genetic exchange between subpopulations.
Facts
Scientific Name Conservation StatusDownlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016 on the strength of a sustained population increase; the IUCN's own assessment cautioned that continued climate-driven loss of bamboo could reverse the trend, so the improvement is real but not treated as settled. Population EstimateWild individuals per China's fourth national panda survey; excludes several hundred more held in captive breeding programs. Classification
System (Realm) Relationship to People Living or ExtinctDerived from this species' own Conservation Status: this atlas's IUCN category list has no Extinct value, so a set conservation-status is itself evidence of living status (w-bfill-g5-0924 browse backfill). Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceIt is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is rotund; adult individuals weigh 100 to 115 kg and are typically 1.2 to 1.9 m long. 1 Connections
Child Taxon Of
In Biome
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Long-Form Articles
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: South Asia, found in there.
Sources
1. Giant Panda (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia lead section
It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is rotund; adult individuals weigh 100 to 115 kg and are typically 1.2 to 1.9 m long.
article text (relationship to people), EntityId 16313
The population boom in China after 1949 created stress on the pandas' habitat and the subsequent famines led to the increased hunting of wildlife, including pandas.
View the Source 2. Wikipedia: Giant Panda
Wikipediasystem (MediaWiki batch-API article extract states it plainly, diet)Quote, system (MediaWiki batch-API article extract states it plainly, diet)
It can digest starch and is mostly herbivorous with a diet consisting almost entirely of bamboo and bamboo shoots.
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.https://www.britannica.com/animal/giant-panda
Conservation efforts have led to the giant panda being reclassified from endangered to vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
System/realm (stated plainly in the entity own recorded description)
A bear native to a handful of mountain ranges in central China, instantly recognizable by its black and white coat, and unusual among bears for a diet that is almost entirely bamboo despite a digestive system still built like that of a carnivore, extracting relatively little energy from each mouthful and compensating by eating for most of its waking hours.
- In Biome: Temperate Forest
View the Source 4. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
5. Encyclopedia of Life
Wikidata: Giant Panda
Giant panda (Wikidata)
WikidataStatements section, habitat (P2974): TerrestrialQuote, Statements section, habitat (P2974): Terrestrial
Wikidata habitat statement (P2974) resolves to a terrestrial habitat type.
Catalogue of Life
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of LifeChild Taxon Of: UrsidaeView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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