Where Do Pandas Live

 Where Do Pandas Live?

The giant panda lives mainly in China but outside of China, Giant pandas can be found in 26 zoos and National parks in other 20 countries. The giant pandas are found in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, etc. They are also found in Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom (Scotland) and the United States.

Types of Bears

Where Do Giant Pandas Live?

Giant panda or panda bear or simply panda is a bear. They live in the bamboo forests in the mountains of central China. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, about 1900 pandas are living in the world.

What Do Bears Eat   

 As they are mostly dependent on bamboo so pandas prefer to live in bamboo forests. Due to expanding human population, development, deforestation, farming and also hunting, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas and now is restricted to around 20 remote fragments of bamboo forests in six mountain ranges along the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, total areas are 13000 square kilometre. These damp, misty forest areas are about 13000 sqkm and mostly at elevations between 4000 and 11500 feet.

Giant panda’s home range is from 8 to 18 square kilometres where they get at least two bamboo species and water. In the summer season, giant pandas climb up to 13000 feet on higher slopes for getting their food. Their principal food source is bamboo so pandas cannot naturally survive outside bamboo forests. They spend 12 hours out of every 24 hours eating around 28 pounds of bamboo. The wild pandas are also found in the Minshan and Qinling mountains. China now has a network of 67 panda reserves, securing more than 66% of giant pandas in the wild and about 55% of their current habitat. Wolong and Foping are two important giant panda protection reserves.

This unique beer is a national treasure in China and can be found in Chinese art and call their beloved giant pandas as Daxiongmao, “large bear-cat”.

The giant panda has black and white fur and dark spots around his eyes, above the ears and on his round body. The length of their bodies is 3 to 6 feet and weight is about 300 pounds. They belong to the Ursidae family and their scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca. Bamboo shoots and leaves make up more than 99% of their diet but occasionally they also eat grasses, tubers or meat of birds and carrion also. In captivity they eat honey, fish eggs fruits etc.

What are the Top Places to see Giant Panda in China?

·       In Sichuan Province in west China is the best place to see giant panda.

·       Wolong Panda Centre.

·        The Giant Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu.

·       Dujiangyan Base near Chengdu.

·       Beijing Zoo.

·       Ocean Park in Hong Kong.

·       Chongqing Zoo.

·        Shanghai Zoo.

·       Guangzhou Chimelong Safari Park.

·       Guilin Seven Star Zoo.

The other places in the world where Giant Pandas are found

·       The San Diego Zoo

·       The Zoo Atlanta

·       The Memphis Zoo

·       The Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City

·       Zoo Berlin in Europe

·       Vienna’s Schonbrunn Zoo in Austria

·       The Adelaide Zoo in Australia

·       Adventure World in Japan

·       Kobe Oji Zoo in Japan

·       Taipei Zoo in Taiwan

·       Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand

Where Do Red Pandas Live?

Red pandas live in rainy, high-altitude forests among rocks and trees that are covered with mixed forests of coniferous trees and deciduous, bamboo and rhododendrons. They live at 5000 to 15000 feet altitudes.

 Red pandas are native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. Red pandas live in the mountains of Nepal, northern Myanmar, Laos and central China. Red pandas are also found in the Qinling Mountains of the Shaanxi Province in China, southern Tibet, Sikkim and the state of Assam in India, Bhutan, northern mountains of Myanmar, northern Arunachal Pradesh, Hengduan Mountains of Sichuan and Gongshan Mountains in Yunnan. A population lives on Meghalaya Plateau in northeastern India.

Red panda or lesser panda or red bear-cat is a mammal species with reddish-brown, long shaggy-tailed and belongs to the Ailuridae family and the scientific name is Ailurus fulgens.

These arboreal animals not only eat bamboo but also eggs, birds, and insects and are mainly active from dusk to dawn but usually, they rest during the daytime. As they are called pandas but the Red Panda and the Giant Panda are not closely related.

The length of their body is 45 to 60cm and their tail is 25 to 50cm long. Their weight ranges between 3 and 6.2kg. There are two different red panda species, the Chinese red panda and the Himalayan red panda. Almost 50% of the red panda live in the Eastern Himalayas and 38% live in Nepal.

In the wild, red pandas can live 12 to 14 years but in captivity, they live 14 to 16 years. According to the World Wildlife Fund, about 10,000 red pandas are surviving in the world.

Where Red Pandas are found in India?

In India red pandas are found in the forests of Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Darjeeling in West Bengal. Red Pandas are now endangered because of habitat loss due to deforestation and farming. In India, there are some National Parks where red pandas are found.

·       Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh

·       Nokrek National Park in Meghalaya.

·       Balpakram National Park in Meghalaya.

·       Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim.

·       Neora Valley National Park in West Bengal.

·        Singalila National Park in West Bengal.

Qinling Panda

Qinling panda is a subspecies of a giant panda with tan and brown fur. Qinling pandas are discovered in the 1960s but were recognized as a subspecies in 2005. They are smaller than giant panda and their eyespots are under the eyes instead of all-around their eyes. Now 200 to 300 Qinling pandas are serving in the world and their lifespan is 5 to 20 years. Qinline pandas live in the Qinling Mountains in China at altitudes of 4000 to 10000 feet. Qinling Mountains are located in Shaanxi Province in China.