Giant Panda Behavior

Quick Facts

Name: The Chinese call it the ‘big bear-cat’ (大熊猫 da xiongmao /dah-sshyong-maow/).
Size: 75 centimeters (2.5 foot) tall and 1.5 meters (5 foot) long

Weight: Up to 150 kg (330 lb)
Habitat: Central- Western and Southwest China.Mainly Sichuan. A few in Shaanxi and Gansu. See the map »
Diet: 99% bamboo. 13 kg (30 lb) or more a day.
Life Span: Up to 30 years in captivity, but usually only 15 to 20 years in the wild
Protection Status: Endangered. Estimates of giant panda numbers in the wild vary between 1,500 and 3,000.
Giant Panda Facts »

A Mother Panda and a Baby Panda

Activities

Giant pandas spend their lives eating bamboo and walking around the forest floor. They are good climbers and can also swim. They don’t build dens (except to put cubs in) or hibernate. If it is too cold up in the mountains they head down to the valleys where it is warmer.

Low-Stress Lifestyle

Because of their low-energy diet they avoid stressful situations and exertion, preferring shallow slopes and solitary living. They use scent markers to avoid one another.

Solitariness

Panda families don’t live together. They are solitary, each female having a well-defined range.

Males generally live apart, except for in the short breeding season (March to May), when they compete for female attention. Females raise the cubs alone.