Panda

The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a bear native to the mountainous regions of central-western and southwestern China, particularly in the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu. Due to farming, deforestation, and other forms of development, pandas have lost much of their natural habitat and have been driven out of the lowlands. Current estimates suggest there are about 1,600 pandas living in the wild.

Unlike many other bears, the giant panda does not hibernate. Instead, it moves to lower and warmer elevations during the winter. Pandas make temporary shelters in hollow trees or rock crevices but do not build permanent dens. They rely mainly on spatial memory (remembering locations) rather than visual memory to navigate their environment.

The panda’s diet consists mostly of bamboo, and it has large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles adapted for crushing tough stalks.

In terms of international relations, the panda has played a unique role in what has become known as “panda diplomacy.” During the 1970s, China gifted pandas to the United States and Japan as symbols of friendship. However, since 1984, China has replaced gifts with 10-year loans, charging up to US$1 million per panda per year. Any cubs born abroad remain the property of China under these agreements.