Giant panda

Life of Giant Pandas - Full Documentary 2016

• Report rights infringement
• published: 05 Feb 2016
• views: 9517

Today, giant pandas are one of the world's most well known animals. And they are universally recognised as being a charismatic symbol of both China and nature conservation in general. But global interest in the animal only took off early in the 20th century. Brief timeline (or read our more detailed history here) In 1936, American fashion designer Ruth Harkness captures and takes the baby panda Su-Lin to the United States, making the cub an instant 'celebrity' and evoking universal sympathy for the plight of the species and creating the 'panda cult'. In the early 1960s, the first four panda reserves are established in China and a decree is issued prohibiting the hunting of a host of animals, including the giant panda. In 1979, WWF signs a unique agreement with China to cooperate on conservation, including helping to save the giant panda. WWF was the first international conservation organization to work in China at the Chinese government's invitation. In 1989, WWF-funded research and satellite imagery show that suitable habitat for pandas in Sichuan Province has shrunk by 50 percent since 1974. In 1992, a management plan for the panda is launched following a decade of cooperation between WWF and the Chinese Ministry of Forestry. Upon completion of the plan, 60 percent of all panda habitat will be included within protected areas. In 1998, WWF files a lawsuit related to the process of loaning pandas to US zoos, which results in a policy requiring zoos importing pandas to ensure that more than half of the funds associated with each loan are channelled into the conservation of wild pandas and their habitat. Giant pandas are born tiny (about 100g or 4 ounces), blind, white and helpless. The mother cradles her tiny cub in a paw and doesn't leave the den for several days after giving birth, even to drink. Cubs soon develop soft gray fur, which becomes coarser and develops its black and white pattern in a month. The new born panda doesn't move from the den in the first two months. After three months baby pandas begin to crawl. Cubs start to eat bamboo around six months and are fully weaned at nine months. Cubs easily die in the wild because they are so small and defenseless. The mother has to leave them alone in the den to eat for four hours a day. Giant pandas weigh about 45 kg (100 lb) at one year. Living Independently Panda cubs grow quickly. They stay with their mother for one and a half to two years. When cubs leave their mother depends on if she conceives. They are fully grown in four years (up to 150 kg or 330 lb). Maturity Giant pandas are fully mature and able to breed at four to six years old (females at four, males at six), while captive giant pandas mature two to three years earlier. Young male pandas have a lower priority in the wild, and barely have any opportunity to mate until 7 or 8 years old. Female giant pandas are only fertile once for two to three days a year, sometime in the spring (March to May). They leave their partners after mating and rear their cubs alone. Female pandas normally bear one cub every 2 or 3 years from 4 to 18 years old. Reproduction. Giant panda gestation is 3 to 5 months, and cubs are usually born in late summer (August mostly) in hidden hollow trees or natural dens, where branches, dry grass, etc. are made into a kind of nest. Normally giant pandas give birth to a single cub. Even if a female has two cubs, she would normally choose to take care of one and abandon the other. Life Expectancy Wild pandas live up to 20 years in the wild. With medical and nutritional help in captivity, pandas can live more than 30 years. There was a giant panda named “Dudu” is Wuhan Zoo that lived 37 years. Presently the oldest live panda is Jiajia in Hong Kong's Ocean Park. She was 36 on August 10, 2014.