PANDA FACT SHEET STATUS: Endangered DESCRIPTION: Pandas are famous for their black and white markings. The legs, shoulders, ears and oval patches around the eyes are black, and the rest of the coat is white. Good tree climbers, pandas can also swim to escape predators. Pandas use an enlarged wrist bone that looks like a thumb to grasp objects like bamboo. SIZE: Pandas weigh an average of 200 to 300 pounds and reach six feet in length. POPULATION: Only 1,000 pandas exist in the wild and 60 in zoos. LIFESPAN: The panda’s lifespan in the wild is unknown but in captivity averages more than 20 years. RANGE: The shrinking range of the panda is limited to parts of Szechuan, Shensi and Kansu provinces in central and western China. HABITAT: The panda lives in thick bamboo and coniferous forests (evergreens with seed cones) at 8,500 to 11,500 feet elevation. FOOD: Pandas feed mostly on bamboo, a tall woody plant full of fiber. The panda’s digestive system does not absorb the fiber, so it must eat a lot. Pandas also eat flowers, vines, tufted grasses, green corn, honey and rodents. BEHAVIOR: These solitary animals spend most of their days feeding. Although they live in cold forests, pandas do not hibernate. They move to lower elevations during winter to keep warm and to higher elevations in summer to stay cool. They do not have permanent homes but sleep at the bottom of trees and under stumps and rock ledges.