BHelmerB3

Giant Panda


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**__THE CAUSES OF BEING ENDANGERED:__** **Construction of roads and railroads in Southwest China, habitat loss** **due to increasing human populations, poaching, bamboo die-offs, and logging are all harmful to the panda population.**======

**__BEHAVIORS:__**

 * ====**The giant panda is docile and naïve, rarely attacks without provocation** **, and generally holds itself aloof from the world, preferring seclusion. In the wild, the giant panda is terrestrial and defines its territory, usually about 10-30 hectares, with scent markings, spraying urine, and clawing trees**. ====
 * ====**It typically keeps to a small territory with clean, running water supply and bamboo (the primary sources of food for the giant panda) growth, and takes shelter in hollow trees or out-of-way crevices.**====
 * ====**The giant panda does not hibernate during the win ter, due to its low nutrient diet.[[image:giant-panda03.jpg width="321" height="255" align="right"]]**====
 * ====**Normally moving in slow motion and somewhat clumsy, but once threatens by natural [[image:p11a.jpg width="359" height="241" align="right"]] **====

**ckals, wolves or leopards, the giant pan** **da can flee very quickly by climbing up a tree, all-the-way to the very top by grabbing the trunk tight with all four limbs.**

 * ====**The giant pan da is most active in the morning and at sunset. As it lives on bamboos that are low in nutrition, it tries its best to reduce energy consumption by spe**====

**__TIMELINE:__** **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 Cl**

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 //**
 * ean Air Act.

 **__BABY PANDAS:__** **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.**


__**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.**

**__DESCRIPTION__**: 
 * The giant panda is a blank and white bear with black fur on the ears, eye patches, muzzle, legs, and shoulders. The rest of the animal's coat is white. The pandas have a thick wooly coat that keeps them warm in their cool forest habitat. They have large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles for eating bamboo. Pandas stand 2 to 3 feet tall at the shoulder. Females rarely weigh 220 pounds while males weigh 250 pounds in the wild. Giant pandas have been reported to live as old as 35 years**