🐼Giant Panda🐼 by iburtch

Where do they live?

iburtch — 2014-10-24 14:03:57 UTC

They live in bamboo forests high in the mountains in central China.See in the picture below where the pandas live.

Why are giant pandas endangered?

Samuel_R — 2014-10-27 13:54:29 UTC

People are cutting down the bamboo for roads and houses. They are also cutting down forests for highways and cities. See in the picture that pandas are endangered because people are using bamboo to make houses like this one. This is important because bamboo is their primary food source.

What types of relationships does the giant panda have?

Samuel_R — 2014-10-27 14:00:42 UTC

Leopards and jackals are predators to baby pandas. The giant panda and bacteria share a mutually beneficial relationship because the bacteria float in their stomach and help them digest their food, produce vitamins, and shape their immune system. To avoid competition pandas mark their territory. Sometimes they fight other pandas for food. Pandas don't like to be around other pandas, so they have a heightened sense of smell to sense if other giant pandas are around. This is a video of three giant pandas fighting. Two of the pandas are against the other panda.

What adaptations does it have?

iburtch — 2014-10-29 14:00:39 UTC

They growl to warn other pandas to stay away. They have to digestive system of a carnivore, but since they live in bamboo forests, they have adapted to a diet that consists of bamboo and the occasional bird or mouse. As you can see below, they have sharp teeth to help them bite through bamboo. They move to lower elevations to stay warm because they don’t hibernate. Another adaptation that they have is a bone that extends from their wrist to help them manipulate bamboo. It is called a "pseudo thumb".

Panda Food Web

iburtch — 2014-11-01 17:08:43 UTC

How has the giant panda's ecosystem been impacted positively and negatively by humans?

emann2021 — 2014-11-03 14:20:20 UTC

It’s been impacted negatively because people have been destroying bamboo forests, though now logging is banned, new threats approached such as mining, road construction, and farming. There has been illegal poaching and logging going on in reserves. Sometimes pandas get caught in traps meant for other animals. When people cut bamboo logs, they are destroying the giant panda's habitat and pandas won't have enough bamboo to eat. Below is a photo of illegally cut down logs left to dry.

How we can help maintain and restore the giant panda's ecosystem?

emann2021 — 2014-11-03 14:25:33 UTC

Donate money to keep pandas alive, or donate money to help a forest reserve where giant pandas are protected. World Wildlife Fund is an international fund dedicated to saving endangered animals. Their logo is the panda, as you can see below. If you go to their website, you can see how you can help the giant panda.

Here is the link to the World Wildlife Fund website.

Cites Used

iburtch — 2014-11-06 15:29:01 UTC

panda cam

Samuel_R — 2014-11-07 14:44:56 UTC

this shows what a panda does on their

daily basis

Types of Pandas

iburtch — 2014-11-07 14:45:45 UTC

There are really only two different types of pandas: the giant panda and the red panda. But in some cases, pandas can be brown or white, too. This is a brown panda.

Panda eating bamboo

iburtch — 2014-11-10 14:49:20 UTC

Abiotic and Biotic

iburtch — 2014-11-19 14:33:17 UTC

The non-living or abiotic things in the giant pandas ecosystem are sunlight, water, and climate. The sun creates and nutrients for the pandas and the bamboo. Water helps because it keeps all of the animals hydrated. Climate has a temperature all the animals are used to. The living or biotic things in the panda's ecosystem are the red panda, leopard, jackal, weasel, bamboo rat, bamboo, and fruit. To see how they are connected in the ecosystem, check out our panda food web.

This is a photo of bamboo rats in bamboo.

How has the giant panda been affected negatively and/or postitively by natural disasters?

iburtch — 2014-11-19 14:53:41 UTC

Pandas have been threatened by climate change and earthquakes. The giant panda's climate has changed because of global warming, which causes bamboo plants to die, and bamboo is a vital food source for pandas. Earthquakes have affected the bear's habitat by causing the ground to shake, making bamboo plants fall over, dead.

These people are saving a giant panda that is hurt under a fallen tree after an earthquake