Is Panda a Real Bear or Raccoon

When the bear is not a bear? Maybe when it is panda. Scientists do not agree on what kind of animals belonging to Panda. The problem is that there are two very different types of panda. Black-and-white panda, which is well-known, called the giant panda. Giant pandas have a cumbersome body weighs about 90 kg and look like a cuddly teddy bear. But other, less well-known panda, small (barely two feet), has a rust-colored fur and a long bushy tail. This animal, called the red panda, starting with the shape and size of the body to the tail with light and dark rings, looks more like a raccoon than the bear.

The scientists concluded that the small red panda closely related to the large black and white panda. Their bodies were similarly built, and have a similar nutrition and life. Because of these similarities, one and the other animals are called panda. But here opinions diverge. Some scientists say that the giant panda is certainly bear species. Some think that the red panda is in fact a raccoon. And there are those who believe that both belong to a particular family of pandas. Scientists are particularly confusing giant panda. Instead of galloping like a real bear, he lags. Instead of howling, he bleats like a sheep. Unlike other bears, do not fall into hibernation and does not like meat.

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However, by studying and comparing blood cells and other cells of giant pandas and ordinary bear, the scientists concluded that the pandas really are bears that have adapted to life in the mountains of China, Nepal and Tibet. They think that bears, raccoons and red pandas have a common ancestor, an animal that lived before twenty to forty million years. This explains their similar characteristics. But raccoons and red pandas evolved in one direction, and bears, including the giant panda, in the other.

Giant pandas live in dense mountain forests, at an altitude of 1500 to 3000 m, where they eat bamboo that grows in small isolated areas around the trees. They eat a lot, every day swallow about 14 kg of bamboo leaves and stems and about 40 kg of young buds. Red pandas live in Asia, but not at such high altitudes. They live in the foothills of the Himalayas. Also feed on bamboo, but eat fruits, nuts, and sometimes small animals.

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Giant pandas born only one cub. Like other real bear cubs, and Panda cubs are incredibly small. Newborn pandas are blind and fledgling, and the weight of them is around 140 grams. Each of these tiny panda faces a tough task – for two to three years needs to increase his weight nearly seven hundred times. They are so small because before birth develop in a very special way. The fertilized egg a few months free moving in the uterus of female pandas rather than, as in other mammals, attached to the wall of the uterus and grows quickly. This may be in order to ensure that the number of newborn bear roughly corresponds to the amount of available food. If female bears in pregnancy can not find enough food, it may be the embryo never attached and do not develop.

But if everything is OK, embryo will firmly grip the wall of the uterus. After that, it shall not be much time to develop and gain weight before they jumped in the world. But as it comes into the world, panda cub is growing at an incredible rate. When a year old, the giant panda is about 35 kg.