The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is rotund; adult individuals weigh 100 to 115 kg (220 to 254 lb) and are typically 1.2 to 1.9 m (3 ft 11 in to 6 ft 3 in) long. It is sexually dimorphic, with males being typically 10–20% 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 fossae 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 m (9,800 ft). 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 Fourth National Survey (2011–2014), published in 2015, estimated that the wild giant panda population aged over 1.5 years, excluding dependent young, had increased to 1,864 individuals; based on this number, and using the available estimated percentage of cubs in the population (9.6%), the total population comprised approximately 2,060 adult individuals as of 2018. 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 Chinese Silver Panda coins since 1983, and was one of the five Fuwa mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Etymology 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 wrist bone of the red panda, which is native to Nepal. In many older sources, the name "panda" or "common panda" refers to the red panda (Ailurus fulgens), which was described some 40 years earlier and over that period was the only animal known as a panda. The binomial name Ailuropoda melanoleuca means black and white (melanoleuca) cat-foot (ailuropoda). Since the earliest collection of Chinese writings, the Chinese language has given the bear many different names, including mò (貘, ancient Chinese name for giant panda), huāxióng (花熊; "spotted bear") and zhúxióng (竹熊; "bamboo bear"). The most popular names in China today are dàxióngmāo (大熊貓; lit. 'giant bear cat'), or simply xióngmāo (熊貓; lit. 'bear cat'). As with the word panda in English, xióngmāo (熊貓) was originally used to describe just the red panda, but dàxióngmāo (大熊貓) and xiǎoxióngmāo (小熊猫; lit. 'little bear cat') were coined to differentiate between the species. In Taiwan, another popular name for panda is the inverted dàmāoxióng (大貓熊; lit. '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.
Taxonomy 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 19 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.
Subspecies
Two subspecies of giant panda have been recognized on the basis of distinct cranial measurements, colour patterns, and population genetics.
The nominate subspecies, A. m. melanoleuca, 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 colours. The Qinling panda, A. m. qinlingensis, is restricted to the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi at elevations of 1,300–3,000 m (4,300–9,800 ft). The typical black and white pattern of Sichuan giant pandas is replaced with a light brown and white pattern. The skull of A. m. qinlingensis 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 Qinling population occurred about 300,000 years ago, and reveals that the non-Qinling population further diverged into two groups, named the Minshan and the Qionglai-Daxiangling-Xiaoxiangling-Liangshan group respectively, about 2,800 years ago.
Phylogeny Of the eight extant species in the bear family Ursidae, the giant panda's lineage branched off the earliest.
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