Although the giant panda will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion, it is bamboo shoots and leaves that make up more than 99% of its diet.
For many decades, the precise taxonomic classification of the giant panda was under debate because it shares characteristics with both bears and raccoons. However, molecular studies indicate the giant panda is a true bear, part of the family Ursidae.
A group of giant pandas can be called a bamboo, an embarrassment, or a cupboard, although cupboard is the official zoological term settled on by the Royal Society after a heated debate in 1866.
Spatial memory is an important mechanism for survival in the wild, allowing an animal to find and remember the location of food, mates, den sites and avoid predators.
The Chinese government owns nearly all the giant pandas on earth. American zoos will pay up to $1 million a year to rent just one. Most sign 10-year "panda diplomacy" contracts, and if any baby cubs are born, they pay an additional one-time $400,000 baby tax.
Su Lin was the name given to the giant panda cub captured in 1936 by the explorer Ruth Harkness who returned to America with the bottle-fed cub. In April 1937, the panda was purchased by Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago, where he was visited by such celebrities as Shirley Temple, Kermit Roosevelt, and Helen Hayes. Harkness brought a second panda, Mei-Mei, to be a companion for Su Lin in February 1938, but the two animals fought and were soon separated. Su Lin died of pneumonia only a few weeks after Mei-Mei's arrival.
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