Giant Panda's Profile 1 

Name:
Da Xiong Mao (which means Great Bear Cat) or Giant Panda
Scientific Name:
Ailuropoda melanoleuca, which means cat-footed black and hitebear.The"full name"(from kingdom to species) is Animalia Chordata (Vertebrate) Mammalia Carnivora Ursidae Ailuropoda melanoleuca.
Classification:
The Giant Panda belongs to the subfamily Aliuropodinae in the Ursidae (bear) family,  under the order Carnivora and the class Mammalia. It is the only species under its genus. When the missioners from Europe first met the Giant Panda in the 1860s, it was classified as a bear because of its resemblance to one. Later, they were grouped with the raccoons and the lesser pandas (red pandas) in the Procyonidaefamily based on physiological evidences, and therefore not considered true bears. In the late 1980s, studies of their DNA and protein materials have shown that the Giant Pandas are clearly closer related to the bears, despite the fact that some researchers suggest to place them in a different family Aliuridae.
 
 
 

General Appearance:
The giant panda has the same general size and shape of the American black bear. However, unlike the American black bear, the Giant Panda has black patches over its eyes, ears, and legs, as well as a black band across its shoulders. In general, an adult giant panda is about 5 1/4 to 6 feet tall and weight about 176 to 276 pounds. The male Giant Pandas generally weight about 10 to 20% more than females.
Habitat:
Giant Pandas live in cold, damp coniferous forests in which bamboo, their main food, grow. The elevation ranges from 4000 to 11000 feet high. (However they move to a lower altitude in the winter.) There are 6 to 8 small areas in Mainland China where around 700 to 1000 Giant Pandas live in the wild. About another 100 live in captivity, in zoos around the world. (Two pandas arrived in the Hong Kong Ocean Park this year.Their names are An An and Jia Jia.) Because they live in solitude, each Giant Panda occupies his/her own "home range." The home range of a Giant Panda varies from 3.8 to 6.5 square kilometers. The males have larger home ranges which may overlap with those of several females'.
An Endangered Species:
In 1984, the Giant Pandas are named an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The population of Giant Pandas has declined because of several reasons. The Giant Pandas only give birth to 1 to 2 cubs at a time, and it takes around 2 years until the mother will mate and give birth again. When the baby pandas are born, they are naked and blind, and they are totally dependent on their mother. When there is a massive die out of bamboo (signaled by the flowers), the pandas lost their main food source and few survived. Sadly, we human have contributed a lot too. Farmers and other people are destroying their habitats, and some set traps in defense of "their land" (although the traps are not intended for the pandas.) Some people hunt pandas for their fur, illegally. If caught, one would serve the rest of his life in prison.