Tu lieu Unit 10

All about panda
Group1
Report
The place called home.
The panda`s body.
The panda`s diet.
Life span.
Threatening to extinct.
How to protect and save panda?

The place called home.
Once having roamed vast areas of China, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Vietnam, the giant panda now makes its home in the mountains of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in western China. Giant pandas live at altitudes ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 feet, where the weather is cold and damp, in the winter the mountains are frequently snow-covered. Migrating up and down the mountainside in search of bamboo, pandas have small home ranges – generally 3 to 5 square miles
The panda`s body.
Thumb:
The giant panda’s thumb is not really a thumb at all, but a large wrist bone called a radial sesamold bone. Covered with a fleshy pad of skin, this bone enables pandas to grasp objects like bamboo. To grab its favorite food, the panda wraps five claws or toes around one side of a bamboo stalk, then pushes the radial sesamold bone forward to jam the bamboo against its claws or toes.
Teeth:
Like humans, giant pandas shed their baby teeth for permanent adult teeth. The molars are approximately four to six times larger than human teeth.
Head:
Bamboo is a hard, dense plant that has been used in the construction of houses, rafts and bridges. Fortunately, the giant panda’s entire head has evolved into a powerful bamboo-crushing machine. Thick jaw bones and huge cheek muscles that exert tremendous force easily shred the treelike branches.
Strength:
The rear legs of a giant panda are not as strong as the front legs. Using the strength of their front legs, giant pandas are able to climb trees easily.
Size:
The largest pandas grow to be about 250 pounds (115 kg), about the weight of a large adult human. They are about 5.25 to 6 feet (1.6 to 1.8 m) long. The average adult male panda grows to be about 3 feet (1 m) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 220 pounds (100 kg). The average adult female panda grows to be about 2.5 feet (80 cm) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 180 pounds (80 kg). The panda`s tail is about 6 inches (16 cm) long.

Fur:
Pandas have very thick, oily, woolly fur that keeps them warm in their cold, wet mountain habitat. Their fur is made of two types of hairs; there are long, thick, coarse hairs and a shorter, fine, dense under fur. This fur is waterproof.

The panda`s diet.
Pandas have the most specialized diet of any of the bears. Their diet is almost exclusively two species of bamboo (arrow and umbrella bamboo).
Pandas eat about 40 pounds (18 kg) of food each day. Bamboo is very low in nutrition. Even though the panda eats this plant, it cannot digest it very well and most of the bamboo passes undigested through the digestive tract. It has to eat for up to 12 hours every day in order to get enough nourishment. Its throat and stomach have extra-tough linings to protect them from the tough food.

Life span:
The giant panda`s life span in the wild has not been accurately documented, but Chinese scientists report that some pandas in zoos have lived to be 35 years old. Most animals live longer in captivity than in the wild.

Threatening to extinct.
The wild population of giant panda is about 1000 individuals, with around 100 individuals in zoos in China and around the world. Some of the problems they face are natural, but some are caused by humans. Pandas do not have many offspring during their lifetime. Although the adults have few predators besides man, the cubs are very small and may be attacked by leopards. Another problem is their diet! Bamboo grows in large patches, and different types of bamboo flower in different years. After it flowers, the bamboo dies back, leaving nothing behind to be eaten. Pandas must travel from one good patch to another to find food. Pandas have to travel to find new patches, and sometimes human-built villages are in the way as they mover from patch to patch.
How to protect and save panda?
To save panda habitat, the Chinese government has set aside 12 nature preserves where bamboo flourishes and giant pandas are known to live. Fragile panda habitat will be protected from development by people and also from damage caused by cattle, sheep and goats as they graze on any emerging seedlings and trample the thin mountain soil. Efforts are being made to introduce pandas to new areas not currently occupied by it in order to expand its habitat. Strips of land, called bamboo corridors, have been created to help pandas migrate or move from one area to another. This technique opens more habitat to pandas. When pandas move greater distances to find mates, they can spread their genes further in the population.
Saving nature together !
We believe that together, we can make a difference!