This is the much-anticipated Panda Page! The facts that follow have been adapted from facts on the San Diego Zoo Panda page.

    The Giant Panda is a marsupial that is in the bear family. Pandas' coats are black and white (as most of you know) because they want to see each other from a long distance. Pandas grow to be about 5 feet long and 27 to 32 inches high. They weigh 220 to 330 lb when full grown, but only a couple of ounces at birth. They have a tail that ranges in size from 10cm-15cm. A Panda's diet consists of 99% bamboo and 1% meat, fish, rice grass, and various fruits and vegetables. Pandas spend about 12 hours a day eating, and they eat 25-75 kg of bamboo a day (although some Pandas will eat 87 kg of bamboo in one sitting). Pandas will eat 25 different types of bamboo. The best part of the bamboo for the pandas to eat is the leaves, as they have more protein. Most Pandas like to climb and they are very interested in new objects. They seem quiet most of the time, but giant pandas can bleat, roar, growl, and honk. Giant pandas are technically carnivores by their teeth structure, but they have adapted to live mostly on bamboo. They will eat small mammals if they can catch them, though! Like other types of bears, giant pandas are curious and playful, especially when they�re young. In zoos, they like to play with enrichment items like piles of ice or sawdust, puzzles made of bamboo with food inside, and different scents like spices. Giant pandas have unusually thick and heavy bones for their size, but they are also very flexible and like to do somersaults. This exhausts about all I know about Pandas; but keep checking back for updates!

-EJ