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Panda Facts & Worksheets

The giant panda, also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear native to south-central China.

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The giant panda, also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear native to south-central China. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the years, and across its round body. The name “giant panda” is sometimes used to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda.

See the fact file below for more information on the panda or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Panda worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Introducing the Panda

  • The panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), also referred to as the giant panda, lives in a few mountain ranges in central China.
  • They have lived in bamboo forests for millions of years and are highly specialized animals with unique adaptations.
  • Due to microbes in its gut, the panda has the ability to digest cellulose and survive on bamboo plants.  
  • As a result of deforestation, farming, and other developments, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
  • In 2014, only 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 countries.
  • The wild panda population in 2015 was under 2000 bears.
  • Conservation efforts have improved panda numbers, and in 2016, it was reclassified from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List.
  • Chinese authorities classify the giant panda as vulnerable.
  • Two subspecies of panda have been recognized:
    • The Giant Panda, which has contrasting black and white colors
    • The Qinling Panda, which has a smaller skull and has a light brown and white pattern.
  • The West first learned of the giant panda in 1869 when the French missionary Armand David received a panda skin from a hunter.
  • In 1916 Hugo Weigold, a German zoologist was the first Westerner known to have seen a living panda, and he actually bought a panda cub.
  • The Roosevelt brothers Theodore Jr. and Kermit became the first Westerners to shoot a panda on an expedition sponsored by the Field Museum of Natural History in the 1920s.
  • In December 1936, a panda cub named Su Lin went to live at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

Size and Appearance

  • Adult pandas are about 2 ft 6in (75 cm) tall and 5 ft (1.5 meters) in length. 
  • In captivity, male pandas weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb). 
  • Females are smaller, weighing up to 125 kg (275 lb).
  • Body length is 47–71 in (120–180 cm).
  • Shoulder height is 21–32in (54–81 cm).
  • Panda tails are 4 – 8 in (10–20 cm) in length, the second-longest in the bear family.
  • Wild pandas weigh 60–110 kg (132–243lb).
  • Life expectancy for pandas in the wild is about 20 years.
  • Life expectancy in captivity increases to 30 years or more.
  • The oldest recorded age for a panda is 36 years.
  • The panda is a black-and-white bear and has a body typical of bears. 
  • Their white coat with black markings is unique. They have black patches around the eyes and ears and on the black legs and shoulders and small white tails.
  • Their paws have five “fingers” facing forward, and a special bone called a “pseudo-thumb”. This is used for grasping food, gripping bamboo, climbing trees, etc.

Habitat and Diet

  • In the wild, pandas are found in the distant, mountainous regions of central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. 
  • In these areas, there are cool, wet bamboo forests that are perfect for the panda’s needs. 
  • Pandas make their dens from hollowed-out logs or stumps of conifer trees found within the forest.
  • Though it belongs to the order Carnivora (meat eaters), the panda is a folivore (a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves).
  • Bamboo shoots and leaves make up more than 99% of a panda’s diet.
  • The average panda eats up to 30 lb (14 kg) of bamboo shoots a day, with the bamboo leaves containing the highest protein levels and the stems less.
  • Eating such large quantities of roughage makes the panda defecate up to 40 times a day.
  • Pandas in the wild occasionally eat other things like tubers, rodents, and carrion. 
  • In captivity, pandas are fed foods such as shrub leaves, bananas, oranges, eggs, yams, and honey. 
  • In the wild, pandas travel between different habitats in order to get the nutrients that they need and to balance their diet, ready for reproduction.

Reproduction and Young

  • Pandas reach sexual maturity between the ages of four and eight and may be reproductive until age 20.
  • Pandas are generally solitary creatures apart from one month of the year spent with their partners during mating season.
  • Adults have defined territories, and females are not tolerant of other females in their range.
  • Males leave the females alone after mating, and the father has no part in helping raise the cub.
  • In captivity, artificial insemination is often used for reproduction purposes.
  • The gestation period for pandas is between 95 and 160 days.
  • Pandas either give birth to one cub or twins in about half of pregnancies.
  • In the wild, if twins are born, usually only one survives as the mother will select the stronger of the cubs, and the weaker cub will die due to starvation. 
  • It is thought that the mother is unable to produce enough milk for two cubs.
  • Baby pandas, called cubs, are born blind and toothless, making them entirely dependent on the mother. 
  • They usually weigh under 4 oz (130 g) and are pink in color with a very fine coat of hair.
  • Cubs nurses from their mother’s breast up to 14 times a day for about 30 minutes at a time
  • Their eyes open when they are between six and eight weeks old.
  • They begin to crawl at 75 to 80 days, and mothers play with their cubs by rolling and wrestling with them. 
  • After about six months, the cubs can eat small quantities of bamboo, although the mother’s milk remains the primary food source for most of the first year. 
  • Pandas live with their mothers until they are 18 months to two years old.
  • The interval between births in the wild is generally two years.

Temperament and Predators

  • Pandas spend much of their day eating and sleeping.
  • Their favorite sleeping poses include lying flat on their backs, lying on their stomachs, stretching their paws out, and rolling themselves up into balls.
  • With an uncommunicative and strange temperament, pandas prefer the freedom of being alone.
  • They also prefer to sleep in the daytime and look for food at night.
  • Adult pandas have few natural predators other than humans who hunt them.
  • Young cubs, however, are vulnerable to attacks by eagles, feral dogs, and snow leopards, as well as the Asian black bear.

Did You Know?

  • The giant panda has often served as China’s national symbol.
  • It has appeared on Chinese Gold Panda coins since 1982.
  • It is also one of the five Fuwa mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
  • The giant panda is among the world’s most adored and protected rare animals,
  • Wild pandas are mostly herbivores, but captive pandas, in sanctuaries and zoos, have a more varied diet, including fresh produce, fish, and eggs.

Panda Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about pandas across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Panda worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the giant panda, also known as the panda bear or simply panda, which is a bear native to south-central China. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name “giant panda” is sometimes used to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Panda Facts
  • All About Pandas
  • Panda Paws
  • Keep Us Posted
  • Panda Nanny
  • Decoding Names
  • Po’s Paws
  • Saving Pandas
  • Panda Conservation Program
  • Panda Bookmarks
  • Panda Bear

Frequently Asked Questions

How many pandas are left in the world?

According to statistics in 2021, there are only 1,864 pandas left in the wild, and conservation methods are still in place to protect them. 

Can pandas swim?

Pandas like to swim and also like to climb trees.

What are baby pandas called?

A newborn panda is called a cub, and baby panda bears look both cute and adorable.

Do panda bears hibernate?

Unlike most bears, panda bears do not hibernate. In winter, they head to lower ground and warmer temperatures and continue to eat bamboo plants.

Are pandas friendly?

Like all bears, pandas are potentially dangerous, and zoo staff do not enter an enclosure with an adult panda without taking necessary precautions.

Are giant pandas and red pandas the same species?

Giant pandas and red pandas are not closely related, as their names seem to suggest. Red pandas are actually related to raccoons, not to giant pandas.

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Link will appear as Panda Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, June 25, 2018

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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