SamanthaEastB2

__Giant Panda (endangered)__ Scientific Name: Ailuropoda melanoleuca **Group: Mammals **Area(s) Where Listed As Endangered: China

The giant panda is an extremely rare animal found mainly in the Western Szechwan province of southwest China. The giant panda can weigh from 165 to 330 lb. The head and body of the panda is mainly white with the exception of its ears, eye patches, nose, shoulders, arms, and legs. The giant pandas eyes are very small and its vision is poor. Enlarged bones in its wrists allow it to grip bamboo stems. They have very strong jaws and large molar teeth that are used to crush the tough bamboo stems. Pandas are very good climbers and use their skill to escape predators. They are also able to move quickly and silently allowing them to evade predators through tunnels of bamboo.

Giant pandas eat mostly bamboo leaves and shoots. But they can also eat fruit and berries, fungi, grass, and even small mammals, birds and fish. Pandas live alone most of their lives, only coming together when it is time to mate. Females give birth to cubs that are hairless and blind and weigh only 100g. Cubs depend on their mothers for about 18 months, and then it is time to find and establish its own territory. They use their scent glands beneath their tails for marking territory.


 * Height** 29.5 inches at shoulders
 * Length** 5 ft (with a 6 inch tail)
 * Weight** Around 250 lbs (males); around 220 lbs (females)
 * Lifespan** 20-30 years in captivity

**Diet **
Bamboo Also known to eat flowers, vines, tufted grasses, green corn, honey and rodents.

**Population **
Today, an estimated 2,000 pandas are found in the wild. By the end of 2006, there were a reported 180 pandas in captivity on mainland China and about 20 in other countries.

**Range **
Historically pandas lived in both mountainous and lowland regions of central-western and southwestern China. They are now found only in the mountains of central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

**Behavior **
Pandas are found mostly in thick bamboo and coniferous forests (evergreens with seed cones) at 8,500 to 11,500 feet in elevation. They are generally solitary animals that spend most of their days feeding. However, they do communicate with each other once in a while through scent markings, calls and occasional meetings. Unlike other bears, pandas do not hibernate. In the winter, they move to lower elevations to keep warm, while traveling to higher elevations in the summer to stay cool. They can be active at any time of the day or night. Pandas do not have permanent homes but sleep at the bottom of trees under stumps and rock ledges.
 * Mating Season** March-May
 * Gestation** 3-5 months
 * Litter size** 1-2 cubs[[image:lol.jpg width="294" height="226" align="left" caption="Mama and Baby"]][[image:giant-panda08.jpg width="357" height="244" align="left" caption="Sleeping" link="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/giant-panda.html"]] Cubs are born blind and helpless and only one cub survives. The cub’s eyes open at six to eight weeks and it starts to move around at three months. Weaned at six months, the cub becomes independent after a year. They may, however, stay with their mothers for up to three years before they strike out on their own.

**Threats **
Pandas are threatened by habitat loss due to increasing human populations, poaching and bamboo die-offs. Defenders of Wildlife is working to educate the public on threats to giant pandas. What causes Giant Pandas to be endangered? It is the fact that people are hunting them for their fur and, sometimes, their meat. Also, their habitat is slowly being destroyed, forcing them to live in smaller areas or to live so close to human inhabited areas that they are seen as a "danger" and killed. Another reason is because the natural habitat is being cleared for agriculture. Arctic sea ice hits its second lowest summer ice extent on record (the lowest extent was in 2007). A massive chunk of ice breaks away from Greenland's Petermann Glacier. Several breakups of ice shelves in Antarctica are observed. (NSIDC; Jason Box, Ohio State University; ESA, NSIDC) Global oil production peaks sometime between 2008 and 2018, according to a model by a Swedish physicist. Others say this turning point, known as "Hubbert’s Peak," won’t occur until after 2020. Once Hubbert’s Peak is reached, global oil production will begin an irreversible decline, possibly triggering a global recession, food shortages and conflict between nations over dwindling oil supplies. (Doctoral dissertation of Frederik Robelius, University of Uppsala, Sweden; report by Robert Hirsch of the Science Applications International Corporation) The Bush Administration enacts changes to the Endangered Species Act that affect reviews of government projects. Polar bears and beluga whales are placed on the Endangered Species List. Gray wolves are delisted in certain areas.
 * 2008

2009 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declares carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants under the Clean Air Act. An ice bridge connected to the Wilkins Ice Sheet of Antarctica breaks apart Many of the world's major rivers are found to be losing water. (Aiguo Dai, NCAR, // Journal of Climate //) ** 