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Giant panda

Explorer · ages 7 and underAdapted from Wikipedia
Two giant pandas enjoying a snack at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China.

What is a giant panda?

The giant panda is a bear. It lives only in China. People also call it the panda bear or just panda. It belongs to the bear family, Ursidae.

It has a white coat with black patches around its eyes, ears, legs, and shoulders. Its body is round and chubby. A thumb on its front paw helps it hold bamboo while it eats.

Where does it live?

Pandas live in the mountains of a few parts of China. They live in places like the Qinling Mountains, and some live in Shaanxi and Gansu. Most pandas live alone. They only come together during the mating season.

Pandas eat mostly plants. They eat almost only bamboo and bamboo shoots. An adult panda can eat 9 to 14 kilograms of bamboo shoots in one day!

Why do people love pandas?

The giant panda is a special symbol of China. It has been on Chinese Gold Panda coins since 1982. It has also been on Chinese Silver Panda coins since 1983. A panda was even one of the mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Pandas are rare, so people help to keep them safe. The giant panda is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. This means it needs our help so that it does not disappear. Pandas are gentle animals, and many people feel happy when they see them.

Quiz time!

3 questions about Giant panda

Question 1 of 3

What kind of animal is a giant panda?

Pictures

A Qinling panda, a rare subspecies of giant panda that lives in the mountains of central China, sitting calmly among the trees.
A giant panda photographed against a plain white background.
A spectacled bear, named for the pale markings around its eyes that look like glasses.
A brown bear, shown against a plain white background to help highlight its shape and features.
A giant panda skull on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, showing the bone structure of this large, bamboo-eating bear.
Giant pandas at the ZooParc de Beauval in France, photographed up close.
A giant panda munching on bamboo, its favorite food.
A giant panda cub, about one week old, at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in Chengdu, China. Newborn pandas are tiny, weighing only 90 to 180 grams at birth.
Bao Li, a giant panda, at the Smithsonian National Zoo.
Gao Gao, a giant panda, at the San Diego Zoo in the United States.
A 7-month-old giant panda cub at the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China, where pandas are protected in their natural mountain home.
An okapi at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Okapis are shy forest animals related to giraffes, and they live in the rainforests of Central Africa.

Keep exploring

Mammal
Carnivora
Bear
China
Animal coat
Bamboo

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Giant panda, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.