"The Two Species of Panda",1,34690096.bmp,b,031.wav
The giant panda is one of the rarest of the large mammals. Its scientific name, \IAiluropoda melanoleuca,\i means black and white bear. The closest relative of the giant panda, the lesser or red panda \I(Ailurus fulgens)\i is smaller, about as big as a dog of average size. Although not as well known, the red panda is more common than the giant panda. Red pandas have an interesting whitish face, perhaps less appealing but wiser-looking than the giant panda. Instead of the short stumpy tail of the giant panda, red pandas have a long, bushy, striped tail. Very few people have seen either panda in the wild.
\BDescription:\b Although not as well known, the red panda is more common than the giant panda.
\BPhoto:\b Gerry Ellis - Ellis Nature Photography
#
"The Giant Panda",2,wwfn0009.bmp,b,032.wav
The giant panda is a mammal that most children and adults can recognize. Its familiar black and white face looks appealing to humans. It is an endearing and lovable image, which is also a graphic designer's delight because of its simplicity. The giant panda has been used as the logo or symbol of the World Wildlife Fund since the 1960s, when it was selected by Sir Peter Scott, son of the famous explorer of the Arctic regions.
\BDescription:\b World Wide Fund for Nature uses the panda image as its logo.
\BPhoto:\b World Wide Fund for Nature
#
"The Red Panda",3,0,c,rdpanda1.avi
The faintly striped, fluffy tail of the red panda is about two thirds the length of its body. The tail often has a dark tip. The body is a dark reddish brown; the face is white with dark patches near the eyes, and a stripe on each cheek. The ears are long and pointed. The feet have hairy soles, which may help to provide grip when climbing trees, where red pandas sleep much of the day. Like its relative, the giant panda, a red panda has glands near the anus, which emit an odor with which it marks objects in its locality.
The red panda's chief food is bamboo, but will on occasion eat other plants and even small animals. Unlike the giant panda, red pandas travel in pairs or family groups.
\BDescription:\b The red panda has distinct red fur and a bushy striped tail similar to a raccoon. It has white markings on the face and white ears.
\BPhoto:\b Gerry Ellis - Ellis Nature Photography
\BPic2:\b 02250020.bmp
\BDescription2:\b Red Panda
\BPic3:\b 02250022.bmp
\BDescription3:\b Red Panda
\BPic4:\b 02250023.bmp
\BDescription4:\b Red Panda
#
"Which Panda is the More Common?",4,34690088.bmp,d,034.wav
Going by how much is written about the giant panda, one would think it was quite common. In fact there are probably less than one thousand giant pandas in the wild, and a little more than one hundred captive ones in \Pbreeding\p stations and zoos. The red panda, which is about one quarter the size of the giant panda, is more common. There are over five hundred red pandas in zoos, for example. The number of red pandas in the wild is not known.
Larger animals are usually rarer than smaller ones. Large ones are an easier target for predators and human hunters. Smaller ones require less food and find it easier to hide. In the case of the pandas, there is also another reason why the red panda is more common than the giant panda. The smaller red panda's diet is less specialized. The giant panda usually only eats bamboo shoots. The red panda also likes bamboo shoots, but eats acorns, roots, and lichen as well. This enables it to find food in more places than the giant panda and to colonize more territory.
The giant panda is on the World Wildlife Fund's list of ten most endangered animals. Others on the list include the tiger, the black rhino, the Asiatic black bear, the hawks-bill sea turtle and the Egyptian tortoise. The red panda comes close behind, along with the hippopotamus and the American box turtle.
\BDescription:\b The red panda travels in family groups or pairs. This family group looks on inquisitively at the photographer taking this photo. The red panda is found in China, Nepal and Myanmar.
\BPhoto:\b Gerry Ellis - Ellis Nature Photography
#
"When Did Pandas Evolve?",5,will0002.bmp,b,035.wav
Pandas are thought to have evolved about two to three million years ago during the geological period, late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. Panda fossils have been found throughout China, and in Myanma and Vietnam.
\BDescription:\b Fossil illustration
\BPhoto:\b William Bourke
#
"How are Pandas Related to Other Animals?",6,ssas0228.bmp,c,036.wav
The classification and relationships of the pandas are a continuing problem to zoologists. There have been many scientific arguments. Most zoologists now agree that the two pandas belong in the group \PCarnivora\p, which contains the dogs, bears, raccoons, otters, mongooses, hyenas and cats. Pandas almost never eat meat in spite of being in this group, which we think of as typical meat-eaters.
Scientists have argued for a long time about whether the two pandas should be in a separate family by themselves, or that the giant panda should be placed with the bears and the red panda with the raccoons.
Both giant and red pandas have similar teeth, bones, and \Pchromosome\p numbers to those found in the raccoons.
Pandas have similarly structured skulls and bones, blood with similar types of cells, and other characteristics to the bears. Both groups have relatively small babies at birth compared to most other mammals. The adult of both bears and pandas make similar sounds -- growling and barking.
Both the giant panda and the red panda have modified \Pforepaws\p for grasping bamboo, which neither bears nor raccoons have. The giant panda has a kind of opposable sixth digit, but the red panda's "hand" is not as well adapted.
\BDescription:\b Red pandas have very similar teeth, bones, and \Pchromosome\p numbers to raccoons.
\BPhoto:\b Seattle Support Group
#
"How are Pandas Related to Other Animals? - (2)",7,02250021.bmp,c,037.wav
The consensus of opinion until recently was that both pandas should be placed in a subfamily of the raccoons. Although the giant panda looks more bear-like, it does not stand upright like the true bears sometimes do. The giant panda walks on all four limbs, with its "heels" and "toes" making contact with the ground like humans. Pandas do not run fast, but if pressed can swim, and they readily climb trees. The principal reasons for placing them with the raccoons were on their physical structure and behavioral characteristics.
Recent chemical and genetic tests, however, have swayed the balance of opinion to include the giant panda in a subfamily of its own in the family Ursidae, the bears. The red panda has remained with family Procyoninae, the raccoons, but in a subfamily of its own, Ailurinae. However, the relationship with the other raccoons seems rather more distant than was at first thought.
It seems clear that the \Pancestors\p of the giant and red pandas evolved from the \Pancestors\p of the bears and raccoons. After that happened, the \Pancestors\p of the giant panda remained for a time more closely linked to the \Pancestors\p of bears. However, after that period, it seems the two groups of panda started to evolve towards each other. At the present time, the biological evidence suggests that the two pandas are more closely linked biologically to each other than to either the bears or raccoons. This conclusion is supported by chemical studies of the \Pgenes\p of the two pandas.
\BDescription:\b It seems clear that the \Pancestors\p of the giant and red pandas evolved from the \Pancestors\p of the bears and raccoons.
\BPhoto:\b Webster Publishing
#
"Where are Pandas Found and Who Discovered Them?",8,34690086.bmp,c,038.wav
Both pandas are found in the mountainous forests in Western China, in the cool wet pine forests, at an elevation between 1,200 and 3,400 meters (4,000-1,000 feet). The red panda is also found in Burma, Bhutan, Tibet and Nepal in the Himalayas. Few humans have seen either panda in the wild, remote places where they live. In zoological gardens, visitors often pass by
