Giant Panda-National Treasure

"In Sichuan, it’s always the year of the panda"

http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/chinesenewyear/article/931560--in-sichuan-it-s-always-the-year-of-the-panda

(Breakfast at Chengdu's Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in China consists of clumps of bamboo. The tough stalks have little nutritional value, so it takes massive amounts to adequately feed the animals.)

This article elaborates on the Giant Panda, the National Treasure of China.  It tells us the particular information of Giant Pandas such as thier exitsing situation; their living conditions and living habits; and where and when to see the Giant Panda.

Giant Panda is one of the endangered species. People like it very much. There used to be many pandas in China long time ago. As the balance of nature was destroyed and the weather was getting warmer and warmer, pandas became less. There are believed to be only about 1,000 in the mountain ranges of Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu.

  

SICHUAN, CHINA—It’s no wonder the panda has become the poster-child for endangered animals of the world.  One of the best — and only — places in the world to get acquainted with these creatures is in the Chinese province of Sichuan, at Chengdu’s Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. Timing is important, because the pandas are famously lethargic and after their daily feeding at 9 a.m. can spend the rest of the day snoozing out of sight.

At some point the pandas opted to go strictly vegetarian and now eat only bamboo.The pandas have modified wrists that look like thumbs, allowing them to grip the stalks in their “fists.” That gives them a human quality that makes them look more like cartoon characters than wild animals.

However, the number of pandas is increasing year by year currently. There are some pandas that are being sent to other countries so that people there can enjoy them.

Scientists hope that one day they will have enough pandas to be set free and let them live in the wild again.