Giant panda

Lesser panda Giant panda Bear Albumin 21 22 6 15.6 0.61... 

White, A.M., Swaisgood, R.R. and Zhang, H. (2003) Chemical communication in the giant panda (.Ailuropoda melanoleuca) the role of age in the signaller and assessor. J. Zool. Lond. 259, 171-178. 

Is there coevolution between mammals and their food plants Herbivorous mammals usually consume many different plant species, and a plant typically is food to more than one herbivore species. Any patterns of coevolution would be diluted, resulting in diffuse rather than narrow coevolution. Even the diets of the koala (eucalyptus) and giant panda (bamboo) are more varied than commonly assumed. The koala feeds on several Eucalyptus species and did not thrive in zoos when fed only one species. The giant panda even includes animals in its diet. Nevertheless, Lindroth (1988) saw coevolution as an attractive hypothesis for some mammals. 

San Diego Zoo (2002). Project Giant panda - Chemical communication in giant pandas. San Diego, CA China. www.sandiegozoo.org/conservation/fieldproJect. Accessed October 28,2002. 

Table II illustrates how the information in Fig. 1 and Table I can be used to assess the statistical significance of immunological data bearing on phenetic relationships, with attention centered on the position of the giant panda with respect to the bear and lesser panda (see also example 4 in Table III). In essence, we estimate the probability that the bear is molecu-larly as similar to the lesser panda as to the giant panda.

Example 4. The conclusion by Sarich10 11 in the early 1970s that the giant panda is allied with bears rather than with the lesser panda can be regarded as statistically robust. This view was consistent with a comprehensive anatomical study1,-13 and with fossil evidence13 and was afterward reinforced by more molecular and cytogenetic data.14... 

The name panda applies to two different species the familiar and well-loved giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca), and the lesser-known red panda Ailunis fulgens). Scientists originally thought the two species were closely related because of similarities in their behavior, diet, anatomy, and distribution. However, despite these shared characters of the pandas, researchers have now determined that the two species are not related as closely as was previously thought. 

A giant panda in China. JLM Visuals. Reproduced by permission. 

Giant pandas are descended from the same ancestral carnivores as bears, raccoons, dogs, and cats, and so are placed in the order Carnivora (carnivores) within the class Mammalia (mammals). Pandas have, however, almost entirely lost the meat-eating habit. It is not yet fuUy resolved whether giant pandas are more closely related to the bear family (Ursidae) or the raccoon family (Pro-cyonidae). 

The first non-Chinese person to describe the giant panda was Pere Armand David, a French missionary living in China, in 1869. He called the panda a bear, based on its bear-like appearance. The next year scientists in Europe examined skeletons and concluded that giant pandas resembled red pandas (which were classified within the raccoon family) more than they did bears. This element of panda classification is still being examined by biologists. 

Many aspects of the panda s skeletal structure and behavior support the idea that it is not a bear. An especially important piece of evidence is the presence of a special sixth digit, which acts in the manner of an opposable thumb. This digit is actually an extension of a bone in the wrist, and it allows giant pandas to grasp bamboo shoots and efficiently strip off their leaves. The red panda also has such a thumb, although it is less well-developed. Other aspects of panda biology which bears do not possess include well-developed molar teeth and non-hibernation in winter. 

Techniques in molecular biology have allowed scientists to create a family tree (or phylogenetic tree) of the relationships among bears, pandas, and raccoons. This has suggested that giant pandas are more closely related to bears than to raccoons, whereas red pandas are more closely related to raccoons. 

After leaving their mother, young female pandas are thought to wander some distance to find a territory in a different area. This behavior reduces inbreeding in panda populations. Pandas become sexually mature at 6-7 years of age, and probably live to about age 15 in the wild. The small number of young produced per female per year, plus the relatively late age of sexual maturity, means that population growth rates are low. This makes giant panda populations vulnerable to extinction if the rate of mortality increases. 

Like giant pandas, red pandas are classified in the order Carnivora. Within this order, the red pandas are usually placed in the raccoon family (Procyonidae). However, the World Conservation Union (the lUCN) places the red panda in its own family, the Ailuridae. This is partly because the red pandas are found only in the Old World, while members of the raccoon family occur in the New World. 

Ursidae— A family in the order Carnivora, including all types of bears, and according to some biologists, the giant panda. 

Jing, Zhu, and LiYangwen. The Giant Panda. Beijing Science Press, distributed by Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1980. 

McQung, R.M. Lili A Giant Panda of Sichuan. New York Morrow, 1988. 

SWAISGOOD, R.R., LINDBURG, D.G., ZHANG, H., Discrimination of oestrous status in giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) via chemical cues in urine. J. Zool., 2002, 257, 381-386. 

Species conservation of emblematic and strategic species like the giant panda, Asian and African elephant, tigers, whales, great apes and turtles conservation of plants as a resource for human health and economic activities and strong control and improvement of wildlife trade legislation. 

BEHAVIORAL RESPONSIVENESS OF CAPTIVE GIANT PANDAS AILUROPODA MELANOLEUCA) TO SUBSTRATE ODORS FROM CONSPECIFICS OF THE... 

The giant panda is a rare animal that inhabits and feeds on dense bamboo forests among isolated mountains in Sichuan, Shananxi and Gansu provinces in China (Hu et al., 1985). Captive giant pandas had a low rate of 30% breeding success before 1991... 

BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE OF GIANT PANDAS TO SUBSTRATE ODORS... 

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