Giant panda

Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
Giant panda at the Ocean Park Hong Kong
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kinrick:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Cless:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Faimily:	Ursidae
Subfaimily:	Ailuropodinae
Genus:	Ailuropoda
Species:	A. melanoleuca
Binomial name
Ailuropoda melanoleuca David, 1869
Subspecies
A. m. melanoleuca A. m. qinlingensis
Giant panda range

The panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, lit. "black an white cat-fit"),^[2] kent as the giant panda tae distinguish it frae the unrelatit reid panda, is a beir^[3] native tae central-wastren an sooth wastren Cheenae.^[4] It is easy kent fae the lairge, kenspeckle black splatches aboot its een, ower the lugs, an athort its roond body. Tho it belangs order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo.^[5] Pandas in the wilderness will bytimes eat ither gresses, wild tubers, or even meat in the fairm o birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, thay mey receive hinny, eggs, fish, yams, scrog leafs, orangers, or bananaes alang wi specially prepared fuid.

Male Panda can forby be refert tae as “ousie cou” in some culturs.^[6][7], mainly in Sichuan province, but in the Shaanxi an Gansu provinces an aa.^[8] As a result o fairming, deforestation an ither development, the panda haes been boustit oot o the lawland auries whaur it uised tae bide.

The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species.^[4] A 2007 report shaws 239 pandas livin in captivity within Cheenae an anither 27 ootwi the kintra.^[9] Wild population estimates vary; ane estimate shaws that thare aboot 1,590 individuals livin in the wild,^[9] while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimatit that this figur could be as heich as 2,000 tae 3,000.^[10] Some reports forby shaw that the nummer o pandas in the wild is on the rise.^[11][12] In 2016, the IUCN reclassifee'd the species frae Endangered tae Vulnerable.^[1]

Awtho the dragon haes aften served as Cheenae's naitional emblem, internationally the panda appears at least as commonly. As sic a thing is the case, it is becomin widely uised athin Cheenae in international contexts, for ensample the five Fuwa mascots o the Beijing Olympics.

1. ↑ ^{a b} Swaisgood, R.; Wang, D.; Wei, F. (2016). "Ailuropoda melanoleuca". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2016: e.T712A45033386. Retrieved 5 September 2016.CS1 maint: uises authors parameter (link)
2. ↑ Scheff, Duncan (2002). Giant Pandas. Animals of the rain forest (illustrated ed.). Heinemann-Raintree Library. p. 7. ISBN 0-7398-5529-8.
3. ↑ Lindburg, Donald G.; Baragona, Karen (2004). Giant Pandas: Biology and Conservation. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23867-2.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors leet (link)
4. ↑ ^{a b} "Global Species Programme – Giant panda". World Wildlife Fund. 14 November 2007. Retrieved 22 Julie 2008.
5. ↑ Quote: "Bamboo forms 99 percent of a panda's diet", "more than 99 percent of their diet is bamboo": p. 63 of Lumpkin & Seidensticker 2007 (as seen in the 2002 edition).
6. ↑ "Giant Panda". Discovery Communications, LLC. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
7. ↑ "Giant Pandas". National Zoological Park. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
8. ↑ Scheff, Duncan (2002). Giant Pandas. Animals of the rain forest (illustrated ed.). Heinemann-Raintree Library. p. 8. ISBN 0-7398-5529-8.
9. ↑ ^{a b} "Number of pandas successfully bred in China down from last year". Xinhua. 8 November 2007. Retrieved 22 Julie 2008.
10. ↑ Briggs, Helen (20 Juin 2006). "Hope for future of giant panda". BBC News. Retrieved 14 Februar 2007.
11. ↑ "Giant panda gives birth to giant cub". Today.reuters.com. Archived frae the original on 22 September 2007. Retrieved 14 Mairch 2009.
12. ↑ Warren, Lynne (Julie 2006). "Pandas, Inc". National Geographic. Retrieved 10 Apryle 2008.