Celebrate National Giant Panda Day!

Did you know March 16th is National Panda Day? Here are some adorable pandas and some fun facts about them to brighten up your day!

Want even more Pandas? Giant pandas have been a part of the San Diego Zoo since the first two arrived back in 1987. And while there haven't been any there since 2019, we can still look back and relive their sweetest moments on The Zoo: San Diego. Stream every episode with discovery+!

March 16, 2021

By: Discovery

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Pandas are loners and they prefer to have their own space. Although they look super cuddly and friendly, but they are actually very shy animals.

Unlike other bears, panda bears don’t hibernate. The reason behind is that they can’t stop eating. Their main diet, bamboo, prevents them from building fat reserves to last them through the winter. So, when the cold winter approaches, they move lower down from the mountains to warmer temperatures.

Giant pandas are known to be curious and playful. They enjoy playing with toys, puzzles, and performing somersaults.

Pandas are actually born pink and will grow their black and white fur after a few weeks. A newborn panda is about 1/900th the size of its mother, but females can grow up to about 200 pounds, while males can grow up to about 300 pounds as adults. Despite their heavy weights, they are excellent tree climbers.

A panda’s average life span in the wild is 14 – 20 years. There are currently 1,864 giant pandas in the wild but they are very vulnerable and we must protect them.

Giant pandas have a distinctive black and white coat. They are known to have black fur around their eyes and on their ears, legs and shoulders.

Pandas love bamboo! They subsist almost entirely on bamboo, they must eat around 26 – 84 pounds of it every day, depending on what part of the bamboo they are eating. But sometimes there isn’t enough bamboo around to sustain the large bears, so giant pandas occasionally supplement their bamboo-diet with rodents, fish, insects, or birds.