Giant panda - Wild Onesie Week 2016

FACT
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© BERNARD DE WETTER
Giant panda
The giant panda is considered a national treasure in China, living in bamboo forests and the high mountains of
western China
They are the rarest member of the bear family, as few as 1,864 giant pandas are left in the wild today.
A newborn panda cub is about 1/900th the size of its mother (about the size of a stick of butter), one of the
smallest newborn mammals relative to its mother’s size.
The giant panda has a short digestive tract, similar to that of a carnivore but they have adapted a vegetarian diet
composed almost entirely of bamboo (only 1% of their diet consists of other plants and meat).
They can eat for up to 55% of the day and must eat from 12 to 38kg of bamboo a day to meet their energy needs.
Giant pandas have two unique physical features that help them hold, crush and eat bamboo: broad, flat molar
teeth & an enlarged writs bone that functions as opposable thumbs.
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