During our travel through 16 countries in 16 months we visited China; home to the infamous giant pandas!
If you’d like to get close to these funny fur balls, then we recommend a trip to the Chengdu Research Base Giant Panda Sanctuary.
Are you wondering how big they are and how much they weigh? A little smaller than an American black bear, a wild giant panda is around 75 centimeters (2½ feet) tall and 1.5 meters (5 feet) long. A wild panda weighs about 60–73 kg (132–160 lb) - the largest ever recorded at 110 kg (240 lb). Males are roughly 1/6 larger than females. Pandas in captivity are usually bigger, weighing in at around 150 kg (330 lb).
A new-born baby panda weighs only about 100g (0.2 lb), about 1/900 of its mother's weight.
Giant pandas love climbing trees, particularly the playful cubs!!
Giant pandas also spend most of their time eating, resting, or seeking food.
They are alone most of the time. Males and females only meet during the breeding season in spring. Giant pandas prefer shallow slopes and solitary living. They use scent markers to avoid one another.
They live in large bamboo forests on humid and relatively high mountain slopes — about 1,200 to 3,100 meters (4,000 to 10,000 feet) above sea level.
Giant pandas were once widespread across central, southern, and eastern China, and China's neighboring countries of Myanmar and northern Vietnam. However, their habitat has shrunk to a few patches in western central China, due to China's farming and logging practices.
At the Chengdu Sanctuary you can meet these miniature Red Pandas who are almost as cute as their giant cousins!
Giant Pandas in their natural environment mainly hang out in the Qin Mountains in Shaanxi Province, and the Min Mountains in Sichuan and Gansu provinces. They love to dine on bamboo, and need to eat about 12 to 38 kg (26–84 lb) of yummy bamboo a day, up to 40% of their own weight. Giant pandas are notably glutonous, spending most of their day satisfying their stomachs: up to 14 hours eating a day!