Species Profile
The Giant Panda is the rarest member in the bear family and it is one of the most endangered species all over the world. The giant panda's future is very uncertain since it almost at the brink of extinction. The giant panda is in the Animalia Kingdom. It is in the the Chordata phylum with other vertebrates. It is in the Mammilia class since it is a mammal. Next, since the giant panda is a carnivore it is in the Carnivora family. It's genus is Ailuropoda and it's species is A. melenoleuca. The common name for this animal is of course, the Giant Panda while the scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca. The giant panda's forest habitat is in the mountains of southwest China where it is getting cut down because of the construction of roads and railroads. Habitat-loss continues to occur in the areas where it is not protected but poaching still remains a very big threat. Clearly, the giant panda lives on land so the type of habitat it lives in is terrestrial. In 2004, there were approximately 1600 pandas in the world and that has been the last time a census has been done. Even though this number may seem miniscule, this is a very big improvement from 1985-1988 where there were only 1000 pandas left on Earth. The trend within the past decade is that the population has been slowly increasing because of China's sanctions not to mention their effort to make panda reserves.
Random Facts
- Giant pandas are one of the only animals that have not been used in traditional Chinese medicine
- When a baby panda is born, it is about 1/900 of the size of it's mother
- A female panda is only fertile for 2-3 days in a year
- The first giant panda arrived in the United States in 1936
- Pandas do not hibernate like other bears