Giant+Panda

=Giant Panda=

Scientific Name: //Ailuropoda melanoleuca//
Phylum: Class: || Animalia Chordata Mammalia || Family: Genus: || Carnivora Ursidia Ailuropoda ||  ||   || __Ecology__
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Giant Pandas eat large bamboos Nothing eats pandas but humans hurt them for their sexy skin. Pandas are primary consumers and are carnivores. The Giant Panda has no relationship with other species in the same environment. The physical features of the environment that this species is found in is cold and damp forests where bamboo grows. The giant panda only exists in 6 small areas today in China. The elevation that they live in range from 4,000-11,000 feet high.

__Physiology media type="youtube" key="yqXdLEn5OSU" height="385" width="480"__ The giant panda is a large (100 kg or 220 lbs.) carnivore,having white pelage with short rounded black ears, a black saddle across its back, black eye patches, and black fore and hind limbs. Body shape is bear-like. It has a short tail, a flattened muzzle, and a large, circum-analscent gland used in marking. Giant pandas have thick big coated fur to survive in the cold damp forests in China. They eat 25 different types of bamboos,fruits, and small roots. Yes, this organism sexually reproduces, it is a mammal. The breeding age of the Giant Panda, is generally four to eight years old. They only breed once a year during the spring, if the female isn't raising a cub from the previous year. When the female is ready to breed, her reproductive phase lasts only a few days. Most believe it is about four days long. She will use scent markings, and calls to find a mate. In the wild, if she can't find a male to have sex with during that time, it will be another year before she will be ready to breed again. If she is successful and the two are able to reach each other with in time. Then the two of them will mate repeatedly for those few days to try to make sure she is fertilized. If she is not pregnant the gestation period will range, on average from 95 to 150 days. The cub will be born totally dependant on the mother, the father is not involved in raising the young.

__Historical Importance__

Three thousand years ago the Giant Panda was named Zouya by the Pingwu people of the Xizhou Dynasty.The Pingwu people thought that the Panda was a gentle animal, as it was never observed to hurt man or beast. Though the panda became a symbol or a sign of peace. When warring armies took to the battlefield if one army raised a flag with an image of the Zouya, the fight would automatically be stopped and a temporary peace would ensue. To this day, the panda continues to be a symbol of peace, and China has gifted pandas to many nations, including the United States, as a gesture of peaceful relations.

__Citations__

Perry, R. (1969). __[|The world of the Giant Panda]__. Bantam Books, New York Schaller, G. (1985). __[|The Giant Pandas of Wolong]__. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Chengdu Association for External Cultural Exchanges (1993b). __Chinese Giant Panda.__Chengdu Press, Chengdu