Field guide · rare
Giant Panda
China's bamboo gourmet — a black-and-white bear that spends its life eating, and whose survival became a global conservation symbol.
Vulnerable
Overview
The giant panda is one of the world's most beloved animals and a triumph of conservation branding. Despite belonging to the bear family, it eats almost nothing but bamboo — up to 18 kilograms a day — and has an enlarged wrist bone that acts like a thumb for gripping stalks.
Pandas are solitary, with females raising a single cub every two to three years. Wild populations are confined to fragmented mountain forests in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu, where bamboo flowering can trigger starvation events.
Habitat
Montane bamboo forest in central China at elevations between 1,200 and 3,500 metres holds wild giant pandas. They need dense bamboo understory and old-growth forest, and are now largely confined to reserves connected by corridors.
Countries found
Interesting facts
- 01
Pandas eat up to 18 kg of bamboo daily — they have an extra 'thumb' bone to grip stalks.
- 02
Cubs are born tiny — about 1/900th the mother's weight.
- 03
Wild pandas mark territory by doing handstands and rubbing scent on trees.
Conservation status
Giant pandas are Vulnerable after decades of habitat protection and captive breeding — a rare conservation success. Roughly 1,800 remain in the wild, mostly in China's panda reserves.
Keep exploring
Free on iOS
Catch the Giant Panda
Spot one in the wild — then scan it in Catch'Um to log your rare discovery.