A Look at the Giant Panda's Habits: Loves Bamboo and Loves to Sleep

The giant panda is China's national treasure and a flagship species for global nature conservation. It has a round, chubby body, and its sharply contrasting black-and-white coat is very eye-catching. It is mainly found in the high-mountain bamboo forests of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. Because it has survived on Earth for a very long time, the giant panda is often called a living fossil of the animal kingdom.

Eating bamboo is the most important part of a giant panda's life, and bamboo leaves, bamboo shoots and bamboo stems make up its main food. Its front paws have a specialized sesamoid bone that works like a thumb to help it grip bamboo stalks, making it very nimble at grabbing food. Because bamboo offers limited nutrition, the giant panda must spend a large amount of time each day eating in order to get enough energy.

Giant pandas usually prefer to keep to themselves and generally live within their own home ranges. To save energy, it spends a considerable amount of time each day resting and sleeping, and it appears to move slowly and leisurely. But it is not clumsy; it is very good at climbing trees and can also swim, and when it encounters danger it can climb a large tree to escape.

Giant panda breeding also draws a great deal of attention. Cubs are extremely small at birth and not yet fully developed, and they need prolonged, careful care from the mother before they gradually grow up. Today, through habitat protection, captive breeding and many other efforts, the giant panda's survival situation continues to improve, and it continues to carry people's attention and enthusiasm for wildlife conservation.