“I’m not a big, fat panda. I’m THE big, fat panda!” Say’s the protagonist Panda “Master Po Ping” or better known as “Po”. This humorous giant panda is the leading character in the motion picture Kung Fu Panda. The giant panda, or Ailuropoda Melanoleuca (its scientific name) is an endangered species. Severe threats from humans have triggered for only about 1,600 giant pandas to be left in the wild. About 300 panda’s live in zoos and they are a huge attraction! The giant panda is protected by China's Wildlife Protection Law, under which those convicted of poaching pandas or smuggling panda skins face life in prison or even death. There have been several approaches to try and save the mighty giant panda but its population has not yet increased for it to be no longer in danger. The loss of habitat and the slow reproduction rate of this species has caused for it to remain on the endangered species list.
The giant panda has the body of a typical bear but its fur is rather distinctive. The animals coat is white and has black patches on its ears, eyes, muzzle, legs, and shoulders. The bears coat is thick, wooly, and shields the bear by keeping it warm in cool forests. Giant pandas have strong jaws and large molar teeth to help it when chomping tough bamboo. A giant pandas teeth have been modified over years to specialize in chewing bamboo. A special feature the giant panda has on its paws is a "pseudo thumb”. This is formed by a lengthened and enlarged wrist bone covered with a fleshy pad of skin. They use this special feature to grasp bamboo stems. This stem stands about two to three feet tall and can reach from four up to six feet long. The average male giant panda weighs approximately two hundred and fifty pounds if in the wild. The ty...
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...e summer they travel to higher elevation to stay cool. It is common for the female giant pandas to be in the sun, while the cubs climb trees, and the male panda protects the territory. Males make markings on trees to show territoriality. They will defend their territory till the death if necessary. A panda usually eats while sitting upright, in a pose that resembles how humans sit on the floor. Wild giant pandas get much of the water they need from bamboo but giant pandas need more water than what bamboo alone can deliver. Therefore nearly every day wild pandas drink fresh water from rivers and streams. A wild giant panda’s diet is almost ninety nine bamboo. The balance consists of other grasses and occasional small rodents or musk deer fawns. In zoos, giant pandas eat bamboo, sugar cane, rice gruel, a special high-fiber biscuit, carrots, apples, and sweet potatoes.
Dierenfeld, E.S., Hintz H.F., Robertson J.B., Van Soest P.J., Oftedal O.T. (1982), Utilization of bamboo by the giant panda. The Journal of Nutrition ,112(4):636-41.
The Pygmy three-toed- sloths are described to have buff-colored faces with dark circles that surround the eye and go outwards to their temples. Like all sloths, they are always in doldrums which can be very unbeneficial to them. They have clay-orange fur that covers their face and their hair is long and bushy. “Long hair hangs forward to the forehead, giving the impression of a hood” (Grzimek 161). Their outer fur has coated an alga that is used as camouflage to avoid predators. If they were attacked, they have a high probability of surviving due to their ability to heal from grievous wounds. These sloths have a total of 18 teeth, 10 coming from their upper jaw. Similar to other sloths their body temperature regulation is imperfect (“Bradypus pygmaeus pygmy three-toed sloth” (a)).
The film’s protagonist is Po, a panda that, from the beginning, does not appear to be capable of doing anything heroic. As in the hero myth outline stated by Leger, Po comes from a “mundane world, doing mundane things” (Seger 312). He works in his father’s noodle shop and although he admires those that practice Kung Fu, he does not have any martial arts training of his own. But Po is content with
It’s habitat has extremely harsh conditions, and requires extreme structure and anatomy. The Red panda is a very interesting not yet well discovered creature whose facts are both fascinating and amusing at the same time. The Red panda’s diet is in a far range.
Burmese pythons (Python molurus) are popular pets in the United States because of their attractive color pattern, reputed docility, and the allure, for some, of owning a giant snake. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, approximately 99,000 Burmese pythons were imported to the United States between 1996 and 2006, compared to only 17,000 between 1970 and 1995. The species is classified by the World Conservation Union as “near threatened” in its native range in Southeast Asia due to exportation for the pet trade and hunting for skins. Thousands of pythons are also captive bred each year in the U.S. for sale as pets. An inexperienced snake keeper who takes home a 20-inch hatchling is, within a year, responsible for a brawny eight-foot predator. Unable to
The Panda’s Legs-Since pandas spend a great deal of their lives foraging for bamboo, their legs have strengthened over time to handle the bear's weight. A panda can consume anywhere from 20 to 40 pounds of bamboo in a single day. Giant pandas average at a weight of about 250 pounds for males and up to 220 pounds for females due to all of this bamboo consumption. The panda's legs must be able to carry this weight over long distances and up high trees for an average of 10 to 16 hours every day, to allow the panda bear to maintain the proper nutrition levels necessary for survival.
The major threat to their survival is the restricted and degraded habitats (Wang and Garshelis). Their habitat is not just one big area of land. In actuality, the Giant Panda’s habitat is fragmented and separated into small patches, each supporting a small population of the pandas. This fragmentation in habitat was caused by logging, deforestation, mining, poaching and by lightning speed economic development (Threats). Logging had been found to separate the once well integrated Giant Panda habitat into many sub sections (Zhou and Pan 363) and their forest habitats became increasingly fragmented by roads and railroads (Threats). Clearing the land in Giant Panda habitats had been another reason for the fragmentation of the Giant Panda’s habitat (Wang and Garshelis). The animal had been pushed higher and higher into the mountains, as their lower and flatter habitats were seized for human for agricultural activity (Wang and Garshelis). The small population due to the fragmentation is also a factor in the decrease in the population size. Studies have shown that small populations lead to a loss of genetic diversity and can lead to problems of inbreeding (Zhou and Pan
grizzlies will hibernate when there is a seasonal shortage of food, low environmental temperatures, or when there’s snow arrival. Grizzly bears hibernate five to seven months each year. The grizzly will enter into hibernation in October or November. During this time the grizzly bear must prepare a den and consume as much food as possible to last their hibernation period. While searching for a den the grizzly may travel many miles until it finds a suitable area that it likes. The dens are usually at elevations above 1,800 m (5,900 ft) on north-facing slopes. The reason why bears have to eat as much food as possible is because they need the energy from the food to last through the entire winter. They may eat up to 90 lbs of food per day, while trying to put on as much weight as possible. When it’s time for grizzlies to hibernate; will enter their den, and fall into a “deep” sleep. During this time the grizzlies won’t eat or drink; but instead they digest their stored up fat; (the fat used to last them through their entire hibernation.) The bear also will not urinate or defecate, but will reabsorb their urine and feces into proteins. The bear can use 25-40% of their body weight during hibernation; the bear’s heart rate and body temperature may also drop. By March or April, male grizzly bears usually emerge from the den and the females emerge in late April or May. When bears emerge from hibernation they’re
Nancy Chen . “Panda Kung Fu’s His Way Around The World”. US China Today. Published June 20, 2008. Accessed November 10, 2013.
they are at the top of the food chain of the grassland plants and animals. Grizzly bears are powerful, top-of-the-food-chain predators, yet much of their diet consists of nuts, berries, fruit, leaves, and roots. Bears also
Polar Bears are very different from other bears. Polar bears are very large bears compared to black bears. Polar bears weigh anywhere between 330-1700lbs. and Black bears weigh anywhere between 150-600lbs. They have strong legs with large, flattened feet with some webbing between their toes that help with walking on ice and swimming.
* Perhaps the most noticeable and striking characteristics of a polar bear is its color. The fur shafts themselves are not white. The shafts actually lack pigmentation and are transparent which allows them to scatter and reflect light resulting in ideal camouflage in a world of ice and snow.
Red Pandas are very much like raccoons, they are very peaceful creatures too! These Pandas have distance markings and markings. They have reddish-brown fur on its upper body, which is used for camouflage. It has a white snout and ears, with white streaks on their face. Red Pandas look nothing like an ordinary panda, this Panda has similar characteristics to a raccoon. It has a covering of red fur like the raccoon. The Red Panda is very small, the body size can range from twenty to twenty-five inches. Also they can weigh up to 8-12 pounds. They have very interesting and unique features. The Red Panda like the Giant Panda has an extra thumb which is used to grip things. They also have extra long whiskers which is used to navigate their environment at night. The Red Panda doesn't live very long compared to a human. The average life span of a Red Panda is 8-12 years. This creature rests during the day and is alive during the night. They are nocturnal which means that they hunt during the night and sleep during the day.
While bamboo stalks and roots make up about 95 percent of its diet, the giant panda also feeds on fish and occasionally small rodents. It must eat 20 to 40 pounds of food each day to survive, and spends 10 to 16 hours a day feeding. Until recently, Washington DC's National Zoo housed Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, perhaps the most well ...
...ing pandas pose for pictures. The pandas are starved so they will be more obedient when being photographed. Jill Robinson of Animals Asia: ''They are clearly victims of training using negative reinforcement, constant beating and lack of food until they get the trick right. '' To make sure the bears do not pose a threat to their trainers, they have their teeth and claws filed down. Animals are deprived of their basic right to live healthily.