Fun Facts About the Chinese Great Panda

Great pandas--also called giant pandas--have been loved and honored for thousands of years. A unique and rare species, Chinese great pandas are now highly endangered, with only about 1000 bears still remaining in the wild.

  1. Diet

    • Ninety-nine percent of the great panda's diet consists of bamboo shoots, and a grown panda can eat as much as 84 pounds of bamboo a day.

    Size

    • Baby pandas only measure about as long as a stick of butter when first born, but grow up to weigh up to 330 pounds.

    Activities

    • Although Chinese great pandas are very large, they can be very flexible and like to play. They particularly enjoy doing somersaults.

    Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling

    • When the U.S. finally began to trade with China again, in 1972, the Chinese gave the U.S. two great pandas, named Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, as a symbol of their friendship. They spent the rest of their lives in the Washington Zoo.

    Symbolism

    • The ancient Chinese believed that giant pandas could keep away evil spirits and misfortunes. Emperors kept them in their palaces.