Panda facts: Interesting facts about the Giant Pandas you never knew

1. A GIANT PANDA IS MUCH BIGGER THAN IT LOOKS.

They are named Giant Panda for a reason. Giant panda looks cute in pictures, but it’s much bigger than you think. An adult panda weighs around 200-300 pounds (90-135 kg) and can be about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long. Pandas have one of the highest bite forces of any carnivore.

2. CHINA LITERALLY OWNS PANDAS.

Every single panda that lives in this world belongs to China. If you see a panda in other countries, it means it is lent from China. When a baby Panda is born, it’s shipped by FedEx to China to help expand the gene pool.

3. GIANT PANDAS ARE GOOD AT CLIMBING TREES AND CAN ALSO SWIM.

Pandas are good tree climbers. They can climb trees from when they are seven months old. The giant panda is actually a bear. Giant pandas are bears, and like other bears, they can swim.

4. A GROUP OF PANDAS IS CALLED AN “EMBARRASSMENT.”

A group of giant pandas is usually known as an embarrassment of pandas, although they can also be referred to as bamboo or as a cupboard of pandas.

5. PANDAS LIKE TO LICK COPPER AND IRON.

In ancient times, Chinese people feared pandas and described them as metal-devouring black-and-white “tapirs.”

6. PANDAS DO NOT HIBERNATE.

All bears generally hibernate, but pandas don’t. In winter, they head lower down their mountain homes to warmer temperatures, where they continue to chomp away on bamboo.

7. GROWN PANDAS HAVE TO EAT AS MUCH AS 80 POUNDS OF BAMBOO PER DAY TO MEET THEIR NUTRITIONAL NEEDS.

Pandas will occasionally eat small animals and fish. Bamboo counts for 99 percent of their diet. Hence, they are classified as omnivores.

8. CHI-CHI INSPIRED THE WWF LOGO. 

Chi-Chi is a giant panda brought to the London Zoo in 1957. She was the only panda the west ever owned; all others are lent from China. She was bought for 12,000 dollars, and now they are rented for up to a million dollars a year. “We wanted an animal that is beautiful, is endangered and one loved by many people in the world for its appealing qualities. We also wanted an animal that had an impact in black and white to save money on printing costs,” says Sir Peter Scott, one of those founders and the man who sketched the first logo.

9. THERE IS A REASON WHY PANDAS ARE VERY RARE.

More than 60% of male pandas exhibit no sexual desire out of their natural habitat. Female pandas are fertile only up to 3 days a year. More than 60% of pandas born in captivity die within a week. Due to all these reasons, they have become extremely rare. Giant pandas are on the brink of extinction, with just over 1,000 pandas left in the world. Scientists are hoping to increase the wild panda population to 5,000 by 2025.