Day 10: It's Not White, It's Translucent

Image Courtesy of critteristic.com

The panda bear, known for being friendly bamboo eating creatures that are the sign of China, but what people don't know is they aren't actually black and white.The 'white' hair is actually translucent.

When Giant pandas are born it takes them 40-60 days just to open their eyes and the reach puberty between ages 5 and 7. The life expectancy of these cute bears is only 25 years. And when they are born they are so tiny. They are smaller than a person's finger! The cub is 1/900th the size of its mother. Except for marsupials, like a kangaroo, a giant panda baby is the smallest mammal newborn relative to its mother's size.

What's amazing is these big, lumbering bears, like all bears, can climb trees. Can you imagine a tree holding 165- 286 pounds?

There are a lot of common misconceptions about pandas. Pandas don't just live off bamboo. Skeletons have shown that they eat small prey and birds.

Pandas are protected by the Chinese government, and many instead of living in their natural habitat, the Himalayas, live in wildlife reserves, but are these endangered species safer in reserves, away from snow leopard? China might protect them, but what happens to the pandas when natural disasters happen?

It's still on my bucket list to see a panda in the wild, but maybe my best bet is to go to a reserve. I wonder if I can play with them, or is it like a zoo where there is a huge divide. I want to see a panda in the wild. Aren't they just adorable?