Giant Pandas

Giant Pandas are well-known for their bumbling and sluggish nature. They sleep for around 10 hours a day, for roughly three hours at a time, and will nap pretty much anywhere. When awake, they spend most of their time eating. Their food of choice, bamboo, is low in nutrients, so they need to consume around 44 lb (20 kg) a day to get what they need. With all that sleeping and eating, it’s no wonder they do little else! The average size for a male is 3 feet. The average size for a female is 2.5 feet. An adult panda weight more than 45 kilos (100 pounds), and can be about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long! Pandas are born looking like baby badgers - furless, pink, and blind. The iconic black and white color comes later, after about three weeks. A 45-kilo adult (and pandas can reach 150 kg in captivity) spends as long as 14 hours eating. And it can eat 12 to 38 kilos of bamboo a day. Pandas are usuallyborn in Agust, because the panda's mating months are March to May and gestation is 3 to 5 months.

Females mainly produce two offspring, but only the stronger one survives in the wild.

In the research bases in Chengdu, the other twin is hand-reared, and swapped regularly with the mother so she can raise two cubs each pregnancy.