About the big and small panda world has become knownonly in the late nineteenth century, despite the fact that it is very ancient and rare animals. Since the discovery, the study of these interesting and unusual animals began. But after two centuries of constant research, much about these mammals is still a mystery. Scientists can not come to a common opinion about the class of these animals. This problem is further aggravated by the fact that these two species have many differences among themselves. So now you can hear a lot of discussions on the topic: "Panda is a bear or a raccoon?"
This kind of animal is usually classified as a classmammals, the order of predators, the family of raccoon and subfamily panda. But not so long ago the Australian researcher E. Tennius conducted a series of analyzes of morphological, cardiological, ethological and biochemical character. By results, the scientist established that out of the sixteen characteristics of five large panda - this raccoon, and the remaining twelve are peculiar only to her one.
If we consider the appearance of this animal,then the big panda is undoubtedly more like bears, it's not for nothing that it is called a "bamboo bear". It has a massive body, which is completely covered with thick fur. Its length varies from 1,1 to 1,9 meters, and weight - from 75 to 140 kilograms. The thick and short legs of this animal end in massive paws with large claws.
If you look closely at the sole,you can see that on it and near each finger there are peculiar pads that serve the animal to hold smooth and slippery bamboo stalks.
In contrast to the bear, this beast has a tail,length of which reaches 13 cm, and teeth that have a different structure. On the premolars of the panda, you can see protrusions and tubercles that none of the other species of bears have, and its head is massive and stupid, with large, erect ears.
Описание панды этого вида говорит, что она имеет white color with characteristic black marks near the eyes, black legs and the same color of tail. And though in appearance she looks like a bear, some features of her anatomy forced scientists to doubt it. In their opinion, the panda is a representative of the raccoon family, and some even identified it in a special class of mammals.
This species, according to scientists, refers toraccoon, because it has the same tail with a striped coloring, a similar muzzle, as well as the shape of the skull and the structure of the teeth. Although her pioneers were inclined to believe that a small panda is generally a cat with a fiery red color. This animal also has two subspecies - Western and Chinese.
This animal, unlike its largehas a body whose length reaches a maximum of 67 cm, with a tail up to 47 cm and a mass not exceeding 6 kg. Therefore, if you answer the question: "Panda is a bear or not?", It can be safely asserted that the small species of these animals with red color refers more to raccoons than to bears.
Large pandas live in mountainous areas inthe very heart of China. Their home is the regions of Sichuan and Tibet. Their whole life passes in the forests, where mainly bamboo grows, they are located at an altitude of 1500-4600 m above sea level. In this area there are rather moderate climatic conditions and all seasons of the year are pronounced. In addition, these animals live in many centers and zoos, where they continue to study and explore. In conditions of captivity, their life expectancy reaches 27 years, and in the wild is even shorter.
Red panda lives in China, Nepal, Bhutan andMyanmar. She lives, like her great counterpart, in a mountainous area at an altitude of 4800 m. This small animal inhabits the forests of the State of Assam, as well as the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan. This animal lives in 86 other zoos in the world.
Despite the fact that the large and small species are significantly different in appearance and the scientists believe that one panda is a bear and the other is a raccoon, they lead the same way of life.
These animals mostly live one by one.The only exception is the marriage period and the time for the upbringing of your cubs. Mature individuals live in an area of about five square meters, which is much smaller than that of bears. In order to indicate their presence, they can use labels with a specific odor.
Big panda, unlike small panda, is active inany time of day and night. The redhead of her relatives leads a nocturnal life, and in the daytime sleeps in the crowns of trees, curled up in a ball and put her head on her big striped tail.
Numerous and dense thickets of bamboo are foodfor both large and small pandas. Thirty species of this plant make up about 99 percent of their diet. They are also willing to eat all sorts of berries, fruits, seeds and acorns. Sometimes they can even hunt small birds, reptiles and rodents.
In captivity they are fed with the same bamboo, as well as biscuits and larvae of insects. Panda is an animal that is one of the few able to eat food in any position of its body and even lying down.
Individuals of two species reach their sexual maturitycloser to five years, and begin to mate only at seven. Females in their mating season, which ranges from two days to a week, produce loud noises and actively release a specific smell.
After this comes the pregnancy, whichlasts for these animals on average five months. Usually one or two naked cubs are born with a body weight of not more than 200 grams and a length of 14 to 16 cm, as well as in brown bears. Although scientists have not yet come to an unambiguous conclusion about whether a panda is a bear or not, the process of reproduction of these two animals is of a similar nature.
At birth, their cubs, like everyone elsespecies of bears, helpless and blind. The female grows her little puppies herself and treats them very carefully and with special care. Within a few days after their birth, she does not leave the burrow for a minute, even to eat or drink. The mother puts her cubs to her breast fifteen times a day, and one feeding can have a duration of about half an hour.
The panda often appears at birthtwins, but the female after some time chooses from them the strongest baby and continues to take care of him, and the second, respectively, without dying, dies. The lactation period in these animals lasts approximately 45 weeks, and the young remain with their mothers until they reach the age of three.
It turns out that for the first time, when scientists conductedstudies on a large species of these animals, they could not understand for a long time, the panda is who, what in general is the beast. A little later they came to the conclusion that she is a raccoon, but only a huge size.
After a while, other specialists denied this opinion, because with the help of a genetic test it was possible to establish that this species of animals has a greater bearing on bears.
As for the red pandas, many scientists have written them down generally to a marten-like species, which consists of the family of cunies, and also the raccoon and skunks.
Although, according to most researchers, thesetwo subspecies and belong to different classes, yet they also have a certain similarity among themselves. For example, both pandas have a sixth "pseudo-finger" located on their front paws. It is substantially larger than the other five. In fact, this part of the body is a carpal bone, covered with skin. Such a structure helps animals to better hold bamboo plants.
Unfortunately, pandas are on the verge of completedisappearances, that is why they are included in the lists of the International Red Book. This happens for many reasons. A red-headed live panda does not represent such a great interest for people as its fur. Because of this, it was constantly hunted, especially in Nepal. But recently the number of this species has gradually recovered.
Large pandas are also protected by law, according to which the extermination of this animal will be punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Although this beast was discovered several centuries agoback, and in 1912 even became the national treasure of the PRC (according to the legislation of this Republic), but scientists still can not come to an unambiguous conclusion that a panda is a bear or a raccoon. Therefore, the research of this animal continues to this day.
