Gentle Life Of The Giant Panda
Tonight, we wander into the misty mountain forests of China, home to the gentle giant panda. Benjamin Boster will guide you through their peaceful world of slow steps, soft fur, and endless bamboo. Settle in, breathe deeply, and let this calm exploration carry you toward rest. Happy sleeping!
Transcript
Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,
Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.
I'm your host,
Benjamin Boster.
Today's episode is about giant pandas.
And don't forget to follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts.
The giant panda,
Also known as the panda bear or simply panda,
Is a bear species endemic to China.
It is characterized by its white coat with black patches around the eyes,
Ears,
Legs and shoulders.
Its body is rotund.
Adult individuals weigh 100 to 115 kilograms and are typically 1.
2 to 1.
9 meters long.
It is sexually dimorphic,
With males being typically 10 to 20 percent larger than females.
A thumb is visible on its forepaw,
Which helps in holding bamboo in place for feeding.
It has large molar teeth and expanded temporal fossa to meet its dietary requirements.
It can digest starch and is mostly herbivorous,
With a diet consisting almost entirely of bamboo and bamboo shoots.
The giant panda lives exclusively in six montane regions in a few Chinese provinces at elevations of up to 3,
000 meters.
It is solitary and gathers only in mating seasons.
It relies on olfactory communication to communicate and uses scent marks as chemical cues and on landmarks like rocks or trees.
Females rear cubs for an average of 18 to 24 months.
The oldest known giant panda was 38 years old.
As a result of farming,
Deforestation,
And infrastructural development,
The giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
The Forest National Survey 2011-2014,
Published in 2015,
Estimated that the wild population of giant pandas aged over 1.
5 years has increased to 1,
864 individuals based on this number and using the available estimated percentage of cubs in the population.
The IUCN estimated the total number of pandas to be approximately 2,
060.
Since 2016,
It has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
In July 2021,
Chinese authorities also classified the giant panda as vulnerable.
It is a conservation-reliant species.
By 2007,
The captive population comprised 239 giant pandas in China and another 27 outside the country.
It has often served as China's national symbol,
Appeared on Chinese gold panda coins since 1982,
And is one of the five Fuwa mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing.
The word panda was borrowed into English from French,
But no conclusive explanation of the origin of the French word panda has been found.
The closest candidate is the Nepali word,
Ponya,
Possibly referring to the adapted wristbone of the red panda,
Which is native to Nepal.
In most older sources,
The name panda or common panda refers to the red panda,
Which was described some 40 years earlier,
And over that period was the only animal known as a panda.
The binomial name Alurapoda melanoluca means black and white melanoluca,
Catfood,
Alurapoda.
Since the earliest collection of Chinese writings,
The Chinese language has given the bear many different names,
Including mao,
Ancient Chinese name for giant panda,
Huaxiong,
Spotted bear,
And zhuxiong,
Bamboo bear.
The most popular names in China today are xiangmao,
Giant bear cat,
Or simply dashiangmao,
Bear cat.
As was the word panda in English,
Xiangmao was originally used to describe just the red panda.
But dashiangmao and xiaoxiangmao,
Little bear cat,
Were coined to differentiate between the species.
In Taiwan,
Another popular name for panda is the inverted da maoxiang,
Giant cat bear,
Though many encyclopedias and dictionaries in Taiwan still use the bear cat form as the correct name.
Some linguists argue in this construction,
Bear instead of cat is the base noun,
Making the name more grammatically and logically correct,
Which have led to the popular choice despite official writings.
This name did not gain its popularity until 1988,
When a private zoo in Tainan painted a sun bear black and white,
And created the Tainan fake panda incident.
For many decades,
The precise taxonomic classification of the giant panda was under debate,
Because it shares characteristics with both bears and raccoons.
In 1985,
Molecular studies indicated that the giant panda is a true bear,
Part of the family Ursidae.
These studies show it diverged about 90 million years ago from the common ancestor of the Ursidae.
It is the most basal member of this family,
And equidistant from all other extant bear species.
Two subspecies of giant panda have been recognized on the basis of distinct cranial measurements,
Color patterns,
And population genetics.
The nominate species,
A.
M.
Melanoluca,
Consists of most extant populations of the giant panda.
These animals are principally found in Sichuan,
And display the typical stark black and white contrasting colors.
The Qinglin panda,
A.
M.
Qinglinensis,
Is restricted to the Qinglin Mountains in Shanxi at elevations of 1,
300 to 3,
000 meters.
The typical black and white pattern of Sichuan giant pandas is replaced with a light brown and white pattern.
The skull of A.
M.
Qinglinensis is smaller than its relatives,
And it has larger molars.
A detailed study of the giant panda's genetic history from 2012 confirms that the separation of the Qinglin population occurred about 300,
000 years ago,
And reveals that the non-Qinglin population further diverged into two groups,
Named the Minchang and the Chenglai-Dashengling-Xiaoshengling-Langshan group,
Respectively,
About 2,
800 years ago.
Of the eight extant species in the bear family Ursidae,
The giant panda's lineage branched off the earliest.
The giant panda is endemic to China.
It is found in small,
Fragmented populations in six mountainous regions in the country,
Mainly in Sichuan,
And also in the neighboring Shanxi and Gansu.
Successful habitat preservation has seen a rise in panda numbers,
Though loss of habitat due to human activities remains its biggest threat.
In areas with a high concentration of medium to large-sized mammals,
Such as domestic cattle,
A species known to degrade the landscape,
The giant panda population is generally low.
This is mainly attributed to the panda's avoidance of interspecific competition.
The species has been located at elevations of 2,
400 to 3,
000 meters above sea level.
They frequent habitats with a healthy concentration of bamboos,
Typically old-growth forests,
But may also venture into secondary forest habitats.
The Dashengling mountain population inhabits both coniferous and broadleaf forests,
Additionally,
The Qinling population often selects evergreen broadleaf and conifer forests,
While pandas in the Qianglai mountains region exclusively select upland conifer forests.
The remaining two populations,
Namely those occurring in the Liangshan and Shaxiangling mountains,
Predominantly occur in broadleaf,
Evergreen,
And conifer forests.
Giant pandas once roamed across Southeast Asia from Myanmar to northern Vietnam.
Their range in China spanned much of the Southeast region.
By the Pleistocene,
Climate change affected panda populations,
And the subsequent domination of modern humans led to large-scale habitat loss.
In 2001,
It was estimated that the range of the giant panda had declined by about 99% of its range in earlier millenniums.
The giant panda has a body shape typical of bears.
It has black fur on its ears,
Limbs,
Shoulders,
And around the eyes.
The rest of the animal's coat is white.
The bear's distinctive coloration appears to serve as camouflage in both winter and summer environments,
As they do not hibernate.
The white areas serve as camouflage in snow,
While the black shoulders and legs conceal them in shade.
Studies in the wild have found that when viewed from a distance,
The panda displays disruptive coloration,
While up close they rely more on blending in.
The black ears may be used to display aggression,
While the eye patches might facilitate them identifying one another.
The giant panda's thick woolly coat keeps it warm in the cool forests of its habitat.
The panda's skull shape is typically of Torrefagus carnivorans.
It has evolved from previous ancestors to exhibit larger molars with increased complexity and expanded temporal fossa.
A study revealed that a 117.
5-kilogram giant panda had a bite force of 1,
298.
9 newton at canine teeth and 1,
815.
9 newton at carnassial teeth.
Adults measure around 1.
2 to 1.
9 meters long,
Including a tail of about 10 to 15 centimeters,
And 60 to 90 centimeters tall at the shoulder.
Males can weigh up to 160 kilograms.
Females are generally 10 to 20 percent smaller than males.
They weigh between 70 kilograms and 125 kilograms.
The average weight for adults is 100 to 115 kilograms.
The giant panda's paw has a digit similar to a thumb and five fingers.
The thumb-like digit,
Actually a modified sesamoid bone,
Helps it to hold bamboo while eating.
The giant panda's tail,
Measuring 10 to 15 centimeters,
Is the second longest in the bear family,
Behind the sloth bear.
Despite its taxonomic classification as a carnivoran,
The giant panda's diet is primarily herbivorous,
With approximately 99 percent of its diet consisting of bamboo.
However,
The giant panda still has the digestive system of a carnivore,
As well as carnivore-specific genes,
And thus derives little energy and little protein from the consumption of bamboo.
The ability to break down cellulose and linien is very weak,
And their main source of nutrients comes from starch and hemicelluloses.
The most important part of their bamboo diet is the shoots,
That are rich in starch and have up to 32 percent protein content.
Accordingly,
Pandas have evolved a higher capability to digest starches than strict carnivores.
Raw bamboo is toxic,
Containing cyanide compounds.
Pandas' body tissues are less able than herbivores to detoxify cyanide,
But their gut microbiomes are significantly enriched in putative genes,
Coding for enzymes related to cyanide degradation,
Suggesting that they have cyanide-digesting gut microbes.
It has been estimated that an adult panda absorbs 54.
8 to 66.
1 milligrams of cyanide a day,
Through its diet.
To prevent poisoning,
They have evolved anti-toxic mechanisms to protect themselves.
About 80 percent of the cyanide is metabolized to less toxic cyocyanate,
And discharged in urine,
While the remaining 20 percent is detoxified by other minor pathways.
During the shoot season,
April to August,
Pandas store a large amount of food in preparation for the months succeeding this seasonal period,
In which pandas live off a diet of bamboo leaves.
The giant panda is a highly specialized animal,
With unique adaptations,
And has lived in bamboo forests for millions of years.
The average giant panda eats as much as 9 to 14 kilograms of bamboo shoots a day,
To compensate for the limited energy content of its diet.
Ingestion of such a large quantity of material is possible and necessary,
Because of the rapid passage of large amounts of indigestible plant materials through the short,
Straight digestive tract.
It is also noted,
However,
That such rapid passage of digestive limits the potential of microbial digestion in the gastrointestinal tract.
Limiting alternative forms of digestion.
Given this voluminous diet,
The giant panda defecates up to 40 times a day.
The limited energy input imposed on it by its diet has affected the panda's behavior.
The giant panda tends to limit its social interactions,
And avoids steeply sloping terrain to limit its energy expenditures.
Two of the panda's most distinctive features,
Its large size and round face,
Are adaptations to its bamboo diet.
Anthropologist Russell Chokin observed,
Much like the vegetarian gorilla,
The low body surface area to body volume of the giant panda is indicative of a lower metabolic rate.
This lower metabolic rate and a more sedentary lifestyle allows the giant panda to subsist on nutrient-poor resources,
Such as bamboo.
The giant panda's round face is the result of a powerful jaw muscle,
Which attach from the top of the head to the jaw.
Large molars crush and grind fibrous plant material.
The morphological characteristics of extinct relatives of the giant panda suggest that while the ancient panda was omnivorous 7 million years ago,
It only became herbivorous some 2 to 2.
4 million years ago with the emergence of A.
Microta.
Genome sequencing of the giant panda suggests that the dietary switch could have initiated from the loss of the sole umami taste receptor encoded by the genes TAS1R1 and TAS1R3,
Also known as T1R1 and T1R3,
Resulting from two frameshift mutations within the T1R1 exons.
Umami taste corresponds to high levels of glutamate as found in meat and may have thus altered the food choice of the giant panda.
Although the pseudogenization of the umami taste receptor and iluripota coincides with the dietary switch to herbivory,
It is likely a result of and not the reason for the dietary change.
The mutation time for the T1R1 gene in the giant panda is estimated to 4.
2 million years ago,
While fossil evidence indicates bamboo consumption in the giant panda species at least 7 million years ago,
Signifying that,
Although complete herbivory occurred around 2 million years ago,
The dietary switch was initiated prior to T1R1 loss of function.
Pandas eat any of 25 bamboo species in the wild.
Only a few bamboo species are widespread at the high altitudes pandas now inhabit.
Bamboo leaves contain the highest protein levels.
Stems have less.
Because of the synchronous flowering,
Death,
And regeneration of all bamboo within a species,
The giant panda must have at least two different species available in its range to avoid starvation.
While primarily herbivorous,
The giant panda still retains decidedly ursine teeth and will eat meat,
Fish,
And eggs when available.
In captivity,
Zoos typically maintain the giant panda's bamboo diet,
Though some will provide specially formulated biscuits or other dietary supplements.
Pandas will travel between different habitats if they need to.
So they can get the nutrients that they need and to balance their diet for reproduction.
Although adult giant pandas have few natural predators other than humans,
Young cubs are vulnerable to attacks by snow leopards,
Yellow-throated martens,
Eagles,
Feral dogs,
And the Asian black bear.
Subadults weighing up to 50 kilograms may be vulnerable to predation by leopards.
Giant pandas are sympatric with other large mammals and bamboo feeders,
Such as the takin.
The takin and giant pandas share a similar ecological niche,
And they consume the same resources.
When competition for food is fierce,
Pandas disperse to the outskirts of takin distribution.
Other possible competitors include,
But is not limited to,
The Eurasian wild pig,
Chinese goral,
And the Asian black bear.
Giant pandas avoid areas with a mid to high density of livestock,
As they depress the vegetation.
The Tibetan Plateau is the only known area where both giant and red pandas can be found.
Although sharing near-identical ecological niches,
Competition between the two species has rarely been observed.
Nearly 50% of their respective distribution overlaps,
And successful coexistence is achieved through distinct habitat selection.
The giant panda is a terrestrial animal,
And primarily spends its life roaming and feeding in the bamboo forests of the Qinling Mountains,
And in the hilly province of Sichuan.
Giant pandas are generally solitary.
Each adult has a defined territory,
And a female is not tolerant of other females in her range.
Social encounters occur primarily during the brief breeding season,
In which pandas,
In proximity to one another,
Will gather.
After mating,
The male leaves the female alone to raise the cub.
Pandas were thought to fall into the crepuscular category,
Those who are active twice a day,
At dawn and dusk.
However,
Pandas may belong to a category all of their own,
With activity peaks in the morning,
Afternoon,
And midnight.
The low nutrition quality of bamboo means pandas need to eat more frequently,
And due to their lack of major predators,
They can be active at any time of day.
Activity is highest in June,
And decreases in late summer to autumn,
With an increase from November through the following March.
Activity is also directly related to the amount of sunlight during colder days.
There is a significant interaction of solar radiation,
Such that solar radiation has a stronger positive effect on activity levels of panda bears.
Pandas communicate through vocalization and scent marking.
They are able to climb and take shelter in hollow trees or rock crevices,
But do not establish permanent dens.
For this reason,
Pandas do not hibernate,
Which is similar to other subtropical mammals,
And will instead move to elevations with warmer temperatures.
Pandas rely primarily on spatial memory rather than visual memory.
The species communicates foremost through a blatting sound.
They achieve peaceful interactions through the emission of this sound.
In hostile confrontations or during fights,
The giant panda emits vocalizations,
Such as a roar or growl.
On the other hand,
Squeals typically indicate inferiority and submission in a dispute.
Giant pandas heavily rely on olfactory communication to communicate with one another.
Scent marks are used to spread these chemical cues and are placed on landmarks like rocks or trees.
Chemical communication in giant pandas plays many roles in their social situations.
Scent marks and odors are used to spread information about age,
Gender,
Individuality,
Dominance over territory,
And choice of settlement.
The season plays a major role in mediating chemical communication.
Depending on the season,
Mainly whether it is breeding season or not,
May influence which odors are prioritized.
Chemical signals can have different functions in different seasons.
During the non-breeding seasons,
Females prefer the odors of other females because reproduction is not their primary motivation.
Chemical cues,
Or odors,
Play an important role in how a panda chooses their habitat.
Pandas look for odors that tell them not only the identity of another panda,
But if they should avoid them or not.
Pandas tend to avoid their species most of the year.
Chemical signaling allows for avoidance and competition.
Pandas whose habitats are in similar locations will collectively leave scent marks in a unique location,
Which is termed scent stations.
When pandas come across these scent stations,
They are able to identify a specific panda and the scope of their habitat.
This allows pandas to be able to pursue a potential mate or avoid a potential competitor.
Pandas can assess an individual's dominant status,
Including their age and size,
Via odor cues,
And may choose to avoid a scent mark if the signaler's competitive ability outweighs their own.
A panda's size can be conveyed through the height of the scent mark.
Since larger animals can place higher scent marks,
An elevated scent mark advertises a higher competitive ability.
Age must also be taken into consideration when assessing a competitor's fighting ability.
For example,
A mature panda will be larger than a younger immature panda and possess an advantage during a fight.
In ancient China,
People thought pandas to be rare and noble creatures.
The Empress Dowager Bo was buried with a panda skull in her vault.
The grandson of Emperor Taizong of Tang is said to have given Japan two pandas and a sheet of panda skin as a sign of goodwill.
The creature named Mo,
Mentioned in some ancient books,
Has been interpreted as Giant Panda.
The dictionary Shuowen Zhezhu,
Eastern Han Dynasty,
Says that the Mo,
From Shu,
Sichuan,
Is bear-like,
But yellow and black,
Although the older Erye describes Mo simply as a white leopard.
The interpretation of the legendary fierce creature Bixiu as referring to the Giant Panda is also common.
During the reign of the Yongle Emperor,
Early 15th century,
His relative from Kaifeng sent him a captured Zhouyu,
And another Zhouyu was sighted in Shandong.
Zhouyu is a legendary righteous animal,
Which similarly to a Qilin only appears during the rule of a benevolent and sincere monarch.
Pandas have been kept in zoos as early as the Western Han Dynasty in China,
Where the writer Sima Xiangru noted that the panda was the most treasured animal in the Emperor's garden of exotic animals.
In the capital Chang'an,
Present Xi'an.
Not until the 1950s were pandas again recorded to have been exhibited in China's zoos.
Qiqi at the London Zoo became very popular.
This influenced the World Wildlife Fund to use a panda as its symbol.
A 2006 New York Times article outlined the economics of keeping pandas,
Which costs five times more than keeping the next most expensive animal,
An elephant.
American zoos generally pay the Chinese government $1 million a year in fees as part of a typical 10-year contract.
San Diego's contract with China was to expire in 2008,
But got a five-year extension at about half of the previous yearly cost.
The last contract with the Memphis Zoo in Memphis,
Tennessee ended in 2013.
In the 1970s,
Gifts of giant pandas to American and Japanese zoos formed an important part of the diplomacy of the People's Republic of China,
PRC,
As it marked some of the first cultural exchanges between China and the West.
This practice has been termed panda diplomacy.
By 1984,
However,
Pandas were no longer given as gifts.
Instead,
China began to offer pandas to other nations only on 10-year loans for a fee of up to $1 million per year,
And with the provision that any cubs born during the loan are the property of China.
As a result of this change in policy,
Nearly all the pandas in the world are owned by China,
And pandas leased to foreign zoos and all cubs are eventually returned to China.
As of 2022,
Xinxin,
The Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City,
Was the last living descendant of the gifted pandas.
