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Fubao Panda🐼

Photo: JY Kiki · CC BY 4.0

SpeciesCarnivoraUrsidae
Carnivores

🐼Giant panda

Ailuropoda melanoleuca (David, 1869)

The giant panda, also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is rotund; adult individuals weigh 100 to 115 kg and are typically 1.2 to 1.9 m long. It is sexually dimorphic, with males being typically 10–20% larger than females. A thumb is visible on its forepaw, which helps in holding bamboo in place for feeding. It has large molar teeth and expanded temporal fossae to meet its dietary requirements. It can digest starch and is mostly herbivorous with a diet consisting almost entirely of bamboo and bamboo shoots.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
523
Photos
4
Measurements
14
vs you
≈ 1.9× your weight
Conservation status
VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2016.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
118 kg
Body length
1.42 m
Shoulder height
0.68 m
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
37 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Giant panda

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
118 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 118 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
1.42 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height
0.68 m0.65–0.7 m · typical rangeat the shoulder
Details ↓

"The shoulder height is 65-70 cm." Value is the midpoint of the stated range; measurement method beyond "shoulder height" not stated.

Source: Animal Diversity Web (Univ. Michigan), Ailuropoda melanoleuca account, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ailuropoda_melanoleuca/ · see citation

Brain mass
243 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
37 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 37 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
14 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
6.6 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
131 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 48 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 2
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.5AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Herbivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
3.55 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
0.18 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
118 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Giant panda yet: top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyUrsidae
  6. ›genusAiluropoda
  7. ›speciesAiluropoda melanoleuca
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. familyUrsidae
  4. genusAiluropoda
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderCaniformia
  13. familyUrsidae
  14. genusAiluropoda
More

More about the Giant panda

Closest relative on this site
🐻 American black bear — last shared an ancestor ≈ 9.8 million years ago.
What it eats
leaves, roots and other plants90%
warm-blooded animals10%
In other languages
Großer Panda (de), 大熊猫 (zh), panda wielka (pl), Ailuropoda melanoleuca (es), óriáspanda (hu), بندة عملاقة (ar) … and 28 more languages
More photos
Fubao PandaGrosser PandaA Happy Panda
All 4 photos in the gallery →

Animals caught on camera

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Scaling lab

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Tree of life

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