Facts on Giant Panda Bears for Elementary Grade Students

Physical Characteristics

• Giant panda bears' colors make them easy to identify. Black fur covers their ears, muzzles, shoulders and legs. Their eyes are also surrounded by black fur. The rest of their coat is white. Their coats are thick, which helps keep the warm. Most giant pandas are between 4 and 6 feet in length. Males can weigh up to 250 lbs, while females are usually not heavier than 220 lbs.

Habitat

• Giant pandas were once spread out throughout southern and eastern China, but now they live in only six fragments of mountain forests in the central part of the country. They are found at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. The bamboo forests the giant pandas call home are rainy and misty all year long.

Feeding

• Giant pandas spend 12 or more hours a day eating bamboo leaves and stems, which make up 99 percent of their diet. Bamboo is not very nutritious, so giant pandas must eat a great deal of it -- up to 84 lbs a day, according to the San Diego Zoo -- in order to survive. Bamboo is tough, but giant pandas can chew it thanks to powerful jaws and large, flat back teeth. They also have bones in their wrists that function like human thumbs, allowing them to hold bamboo shoots. Once in a while, giant pandas will also eat insects and rodents. They get much of the water they need from bamboo, but also drink daily from rivers and streams.

Development

• Female pandas can only have one or two cubs at a time. Even when they give birth to two, they only take care of one; the other cub usually does not survive. Newborn panda cubs are blind, hairless and about the size of a stick of butter. Some cubs stay with their mom until they are 3 years old.

Behavior

• When giant pandas are not eating, they are usually sleeping or resting. They are great at climbing trees and like to rest among the branches. Adult giant pandas spend most of their time alone, but once in a while they communicate with other giant pandas. The sound they make when greeting each other is similar to the bleating of a lamb, according to the San Diego Zoo.

Future

• Giant pandas are at risk of going extinct, which means they would disappear from the Earth forever. They are endangered in part because humans have destroyed large areas of the bamboo forests they depend on.