A black-and-white bear found only in the mountains of central China. It belongs to the carnivore order but lives almost entirely on bamboo, which makes up about 99% of its diet.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?No, herbivore
Dangerous?Can be
Usually docile, but giant pandas have attacked people on rare occasions.
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Pandas don’t hibernate. In cold weather they move to lower, warmer elevations instead.
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAsia
HabitatForest, Mountains
ColoursBlack, White
SizeLarge
Length1.2–1.9 m
Weight100–115 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives alone
Lives for20 years
Can swim
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Six mountain regions of central China, mostly in Sichuan, at elevations up to 3,000 m.
- What it eats
- About 99% bamboo and bamboo shoots: 9–14 kg a day, to make up for how little energy it gets from them.
- Conservation
- Vulnerable (IUCN Red List)
Did you know
A carnivore's gut that lives on bamboo, 9–14 kg of it a day.
Its “thumb” is really an elongated wrist bone, which it uses to grip bamboo.
Often confused with
- Red panda
A red panda is a small reddish-brown animal with a ringed tail. It isn’t a bear, and it is more closely related to raccoons, weasels and skunks.
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