There are two different kinds of Pandas, the Red Panda and the Giant Panda. The Giant Panda is the one most recognizable by his black and white fur and his large size. A male Giant Panda averages 225 lbs. and can reach up to 5 - 6 feet in length. The Red Panda is smaller and looks more like a raccoon. You’ll notice that the Giant Panda sits like a bear but requires all four legs to walk. There is much debate whether the panda family descended from the bear or the raccoon. Recent DNA analysis indicates that Red Pandas are descended from the raccoon family while Giant Pandas more closely related to the bear family.

The Chinese legend of how the panda acquired its color is a beautiful story.

The legends begins with the panda as a totally white bear. One day a little girl happened to run across a white panda and a leopard fighting. Trying to save the defenseless panda she charged the leopard with a large bamboo shoot, striking him over and over again. The leopard was not hurt by the bamboo and turned on the little girl instead. This act of bravery saved the panda’s life but the little girl lost hers in the struggle.

All the white pandas held a funeral in honor of the brave little girl and wore black armbands as a sign of mourning. The black dye of the armbands, moistened by many tears from the pandas, began to run. When the pandas wiped their eyes, the armband left black marks. When the pandas consoled each other by hugging, the dye left black spots on their backs. When they covered their ears to block out the sound of crying, the black dye colored their ears.

The Giant Panda’s peaceful existence of rarely feeding on other animals and the Chinese ancient belief that during wartime the panda went hungry and only flourished in times of peace won the Giant Panda it’s fame as a symbol of peace in China. A picture of the panda was used on flags as a signal for surrender. Today, the Giant Panda is the logo for the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. They chose a fitting logo, after all, the Giant Panda is one of the world’s most cherished yet endangered animals on Earth. There are many strikes against the Giant Panda that they must overcome to survive. Their habitats are being destroyed along with their main food supply of bamboo. A Panda will eat as much as 20 pounds of bamboo in a day! As their habitats are destroyed, their populations are being fragmented. Without needed genetic exchange, these creatures have been and will continue to become weaker genetically resulting in birth defects and lower birth rates and making it harder for them to resist disease. To make matters worse the Giant Panda is slow to reproduce. Multiple births are uncommon and even then the odds are that only one survives. The mother panda can only take care of one cub every two years. It’s hard to believe that anyone would want to ever kill one of these magnificent animals, but it’s true. Their skins are highly prized by underground markets in the Far East. The Chinese government has passed laws to protect them. In fact, the act of poaching a Giant Panda is punishable by a life sentence.

The only place on Earth that the Giant Panda lives in the wild is in the mountains of central China. Researchers believe there are less than 1000 of these beautiful animals left, of which about 300 or so live in captivity. Atlanta is fortunate to have in its zoo 2 of only 4 pandas in U.S. zoos. The other 2 are in the San Diego Zoo. The National Zoo in Washington D.C. recently lost what would have been the 5th in the U.S., a Giant Panda named Hsing Hsing who passed away on November 28, 1999. One of the most famous panda couples consisted of Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling. These were presented to President Nixon in 1972 by the Chinese government as a token of goodwill after his historic visit to China. Ling Ling died in 1992.