That's probably just as well because people tend to like pandas because they are black and white and look cuddly. While the whole teddy bear concept is a bit misleading because bears are notoriously aggressive, the cuddly thing is more appropriate about pandas up to a point.
The Qinling Panda
"Though the panda is often assumed to be docile, it has been known to attack humans, presumably out of irritation rather than aggression," states Wikipedia.
Oh that's OK then.
The Qinling panda is restricted to the Qinlin Mountains of China. It differs from the more familiar panda because it has a smaller skull and dark brown and light brown (rather than black and white) fur. There are an estimated 200–300 Qinling pandas living in the wild.
All types of panda are endangered. A 2007 report estimated there were 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country. There are about 2,000 living in the wild, which is not many considering the size of China.
Giant pandas are generally solitary and the females get pissy in more ways than one. Pandas communicate by marking territory by urinating. A female is not tolerant of other females in her range. Intruders have been known to receive black eyes.
As in the case of orangutans, the male pandas tend to leave child rearing to the females. The panda's diet is 99 percent bamboo which may explain why it gets irritated, and gives rise to the crude sex joke about the panda that eats, shoots and leaves.
In reality pandas don't seem to be into sex much, particularly in captivity. As soon as pandas were in the zoo, they lost all interest in mating, leading to artificial insemination programs, Viagra and even showing dirty panda vids of giant pandas mating. Getting them to breed was about as successful as getting Victoria Beckham to crack a smile. I'm not sure if the mating vids were in black and white. In the wild it doesn't help that when twins are born, only one survives.
Pandas are increasingly becoming the national symbol of China. They have even been used in diplomacy.
Loans of giant pandas to zoos in Japan and the US formed an important part of the diplomacy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the 1970s, making cultural exchanges This practice has been termed "Panda diplomacy". However, in more recent years China has retreated from the idea of gifts and demanded large loan payments. Sounds familiar that.
Useless Fact About the Qinling Panda
Like all pandas its a herbivore but it has the digestive system of a carnivore. It derives little energy or protein from bamboo. There's a bear roaring to get out but for the most part the panda just ambles off in search of a new type of bamboo.
What Not To Say to a Panda
Fancy a quick one
Maybe some red meat would do the trick.
ReplyDeleteInteresting information, thanks for sharing.
Cute animals, but seems to have had the fierceness breed out of them. Yeah, some red meat, oh dear, I think PETA is at the door, got to run!
hmm never fancy a call from PETA Yolanda
DeleteI was wondering what you would do for Q...now I know! Females getting pissy hmmm that seems familiar :)
ReplyDeleteFemales getting pissy - hmm a small bell just went off in my head Rowena
DeleteI love baby pandas! They are so cute!
ReplyDeleteThey do look like cuddly toys JoJo
DeletePandas are gorgeous animals. Wouldn't want to try to hug one...but still. :)
ReplyDeleteyou might get away with hugging a baby one Tracy :)
Delete"...they lost all interest in mating, leading to artificial insemination programs, Viagra and even showing dirty panda vids of giant pandas mating." <-This caused my best laugh of the day. Brilliant, David. Thank you.
ReplyDeletexoRobyn
Glad to cause a chuckle Robyn - maybe there's a whole market for panda porn.
Delete"Though the panda is often assumed to be docile, it has been known to attack humans, presumably out of irritation rather than aggression," states Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteOh that's OK then. - LOL. I can see the British humour coming out there my friend!
You know why Victoria Beckham doesn't smile? Because she looks like the village idiot when she does. Trust me, I've seen it.
really Juliette - if you have seen Victoria Beckham smile i'm impressed - maybe cos she never smiles and her mouth muscles are objecting.
DeleteAww, pandas are super cute - as long as I stay away from their pens and don't 'irritate' them. hehe
ReplyDeleteRight Trisha irritation is the issue really, hard to find them tho
DeleteLol at thay entire paragraph about pandas and sex. And that crack about the black and white vids made me remember that joke that goes why is the pasa sad? Because he can't have a colored picture.
ReplyDeleteDeecoded
lol nice one Dee - like what's black and white and red all over ... a newspaper.
DeleteI adore pandas. Terrificly entertaining and informative post. Love the mating paragraph. Nicely written.
ReplyDeleteJust stopping by from the A to Z Challenge. Cheers and thanks.
thanx for stopping by noueveau - will check yours.
DeleteThey look cute - but I wouldn't want to get too near one! (from a distance at London Zoo was enough for me!)
ReplyDeleteFrom this posting, I gather male Pandas seem to have a lot in common with their human counterpart - leaving the females to rear the children. (presumably they are totally worn out foraging for fresh bamboo - hence the almost comatose pose most of them adopt......not unlike my own semi-housetrained adult male human! ;-p)
Hope you are enjoying the A-Z blog-hop this year!
SueH I refuse to go quietly!
Twitter - @Librarymaid
yep Sue don't get enough time to hop tho - I know tis like humans eh. Should be hit up for child support.
Delete