There are two species of panda: giant pandas bears and red pandas or lesser pandas. The black-and-white giant pandas are easily recognized. The red pandas resemble raccoons.
giant panda, wikipedia
Random Facts About Pandas
Giant pandas can grow to be five or six feet tall. Red pandas only grow to a height of 20-25 inches.
An adult giant panda can weigh up to 276 pounds. An adult red panda will only weigh from 7-13 pounds.
Giant panda bears normally give birth to one cub at a time. A red panda can give birth to one cub or to as many as five cubs per litter.
Giant pandas live in China and Tibet.
Red panda bears live in Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, and Nepal.
Can you imagine having six digits on each hand? A panda’s paw has five fingers and an opposing thumb.
What sound do they make? They either bleat, honk, or growl.
Diurnal creatures, pandas are most active during the day, and they are good at climbing trees.
There just aren’t a whole lot of pandas left in the world. It is thought that there are less than a thousand of these beautiful animals left in the wild and a little over a hundred in captivity.
The forests they live in are dense with bamboo and conifers.
Giant pandas have to feed for about 15 hours each day, and bamboo makes up 99% of their diet. The panda’s throat has a special lining to protect it from bamboo splinters.
During spring, a panda can eat up to 100 pounds of bamboo a day. The rest of the year, a panda will eat from 25-30 pounds of bamboo each day.
Their sense of smell is very good, and it helps them to find the very best stalks of bamboo.
The red panda also eats fruit, acorns, roots, and eggs.
The panda eats while sitting.
Much of the food eaten by the giant panda is not digested. During the spring, an adult giant panda has been known to produce 62 pounds of droppings in just 24 hours.
Giant pandas do not hibernate. They are unable to store enough fat for hibernation because of their diet.
Male pandas are boars; female pandas are sows.
A baby panda is known as a cub.
Pandas are solitary creatures and are not often caught together in groups. Why do they spend so much time alone? Giant pandas cannot expend the energy it would take to compete with another for territory, mates, and adequate food.
An infant panda when born is 1/900th of its mother’s size.
red panda, wikipedia
Big bear cat is what the Chinese call the panda bear. The red panda is also called the red cat-bear.
Once born, the panda cub isn’t able to open its eyes for 50 to 60 days.
By the time the giant panda is one year old, it is already climbing large trees. How does a panda climb a tree? It hugs the trunk and grips it with its claws.
Since pandas are pigeon-toed, they do not run very fast at all.
Pandas are so large that they just don’t have many natural enemies. Snow leopards, however, will prey upon cubs, the old, or those who are sick.
China considers the giant pandas to be national treasures.
The panda may be just as cute as a teddy bear, but one can be dangerous. One giant panda tooth is seven times larger than a human tooth. I don’t think I would want one of those to sink through my skin.
pandaphobia, deviantart.com
Panda Bear Phobia
A phobia is an extreme dread or fear of something. When a person encounters the object of his or her fear, he could experience anxiety, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, an irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, etc.
I couldn’t find a specific name for a phobia of panda bears, but there are some phobias that could describe this fear.
1) Agrizoophobia is the fear of all wild animals.
2) Melissophobia is the fear of all bears.
3) Zoophobia is the fear of all animals.
But what if a person isn’t afraid of all animals, wild animals, or bears? Shouldn’t there be a name for a fear of panda bears? I suggest either pandaphobia or pandabearophobia. Which one do you think would fit better?
a bamboo of pandas, myfreewallpapershub.com
Collective Nouns
Just as there is not a specific phobia named for panda bears, neither have they been given an official collective noun. They are solitary creatures and don’t normally hang out in groups, and this could be why no one has assigned a specific collective noun to them.
I received a lot of suggestions from my FB friends, and I found a few that were suggested on different forums on the web. The one I came up with is a bamboo of pandas.
an amalgamation of pandas – An amalgamation is a blending. This would a good collective noun because of how the black and white blend on their bodies.
a bamboo of pandas – Bamboo does make up 99% of their diet, and I always associate pandas with bamboo.
an embarrassment of pandas – Pandas are shy and solitary creatures, so it stands to reason that they could be embarrassed.
a kung fu of pandas – If you haven’t seen Kung Fu Panda, you need to watch it. This story about an overweight, clumsy panda who dreams of becoming a kung fu master is what inspired this collective noun.
a pandemonium of pandas – If all the pandas in the zoo found a way out of their enclosures, pandemonium would take over. Maybe the spelling should be changed just a bit to make this gathering of these cute black-and-white bears a pandamonium of pandas.
a pantomime of pandas – The face of a mime is usually decorated in black and white, and they communicate through pantomime. Their black and white get-up would put one in mind of a pantomime of pandas.
a parade of pandas – Pandas on Parade is a piece of music by Ernest Kramer. It was written for those who are beginning to learn to play the piano. The sheet music I found on Amazon has pandas on the front of it. A parade of pandas would dance while the student plays Pandas on Parade.
a parcel of pandas – A parcel is something sent through the mail. Did you know that a pair of pandas were FedExed from China to Scotland? Read about this parcel of pandas in Wild About Pandas.
a picnic of pandas – Panda Picnic Party is a children’t board game. Would a picnic of pandas play Panda Picnic Party while feasting on their shoots of bamboo? In the below video, you can see a group of baby pandas having a picnic.
a sleuth of pandas – Would you hire a sleuth of pandas to find out who robbed your house?
girl writing, etc.usf.edu
Writing Prompts
Choose your favorite collective noun for pandas, or make up one of your own, and tell a story showing why it should be the official collective noun for panda bears.
Write a story showing why China considers the giant panda to be a national treasure.
Pandas are such cute animals, but they can also be fierce. What about stuffed panda bears? Do you think they could be fierce in spite of their cuteness? Write a story about a collection of stuffed panda bears that come to life and show just how fierce and unloving they can be.
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