Images Dated 11th June 2006

Giant panda

Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) Family: Ailuropodidae.
Wolong China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda within Wolong Reserve. Sichuan Province.
CHINA
RANGE: Temperate bamboo forests of altitudes between 6, 500 and 10, 000 feet. Central Sichuan, South Gansu, East Qinling and in Shaanxi Provinces of China.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Less than 1000 animals remain in the wild. Even the death penalty does not deter people from hunting these animals, but they are mostly endangered due to habitat loss.
They consume about 45 pounds of a specific type of bamboo per day as well as some mosses, fungi and even small rodents. Males weigh: 85-125kg's and females weigh: 70-100 kg's. They live 10-15 years in the wild and up to 30 in captivity. Their natural predators are leopards

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