13-6-2023 MADRID ZOO PARK, ESPANA - GIANT PANDA (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

 Giant Pandas are fascinating animals. The Panda (a name which means eater of bamboo  in Nepali), was nothing more than a solitary wanderer in the Chinese mountains until 1869, when it was made known to the West by the naturalist and missionary Armand David. Giant Pandas are a symbol for those who campaign to protect nature and biodiversity.

They are very calm animals, and expert tree climbers. Females are lighter than males, although there are few visible differences between them. Its coat is hard, long and dense; sometimes the black has a brownish tinge, and the white can becomes more reddish and brown. It has vertical pupils, just like cats. This species has developed a sixth finger (pseudo-thumb) which is nothing more than an extension of a bone in the wrist that is used to pluck, grasp and eat bamboo.

27-11-2015 SINGAPORE ZOO - GIANT PANDA (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), sometimes called a panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda, a neighboring musteloid. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a folivore, with bamboo shoots and leaves making up more than 99% of its diet. Giant pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.

The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan, and also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu. As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived, and it is a conservation-reliant vulnerable species.

A 2007 report showed 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country. By December 2014, 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 countries. Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000. Some reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise. By March 2015, the wild giant panda population had increased to 1,864 individuals. In 2016, it was reclassified on the IUCN Red List from "endangered" to "vulnerable", affirming decade-long efforts to save the panda. In July 2021, Chinese authorities also reclassified the giant panda as vulnerable.

The giant panda has often served as China's national symbol, appeared on Chinese Gold Panda coins since 1982 and as one of the five Fuwa mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing.