Panda

Giant Panda Basics

White with black fur on their ears, limbs, shoulders and around the eyes, an effective summer and winter camouflage, giant pandas are unmistakeable. Part of the ‘Ursidae’, one of eight species in the bear family, of which the giant panda is the most herbivorous, an adult male weighs in at 140kgs (300 pounds) and an adult female 90kgs (200 pounds). You’re most likely to find them kicking back, eating the shoots and leaves of bamboo, which make up 99% of their diet, in the shady forests of the mountains. As bamboo is not particularly nutritious, pandas must eat a lot of it, up to 16kgs a day, which they do by grasping the bamboo sticks with a thumb-like digit on their front paws. While not eating or roaming their territory, pandas are also excellent climbers and swimmers.

Pandas are solitary creatures, meeting up only during a very short mating season. Mother pandas, who give birth to a tiny, helpless cub that is about 1/900^th of her size, raise their cubs alone for 18 to 24 months. In the wild, they have a lifespan of 20 years; in captivity however, Jia Jia of Ocean Park in Hong Kong, lived to 38 years old. 

Giant Panda Conservation

There are just over 1,800 pandas in the wild, living in the temperate forests of southwest China, mainly in the province of Sichuan, but also Shaanxi and Gansu. Giant pandas once roamed all across southern China and Southeast Asia, but human threat over the centuries pushed them to endangered status; today, with lots of work around the prevention of habitat loss, the wild population is rebounding and in 2017, they were moved up in status to vulnerable. That said, giant pandas are conservation reliant so the establishment of panda reserves and the panda breeding centres like the Chengdu Research Base are incredibly important.

Where to See Giant Pandas in China

Living high in the forested hills of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, seeing a giant panda in the wild is altogether unlikely. However, there are plenty of other places you can see them on a holiday to China. The very best and most responsible option will always be one of the world-class research facilities, where you’ll not only be able to see pandas themselves but learn all about them, their conservation and the successful breeding project. Top of the lot, and the most famous, is the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Here, you’ll see pandas in a setting that mirrors their natural habitat, with plenty of space, trees to climb, hills to roll down and, of course, piles and piles of bamboo. They are also given enrichment activities while being treated as much like wild animals as they can be. The research base also has a nursery where you can see the exceptionally well cared for and extremely toddler-like baby pandas – watching their shenanigans could take up days of your time! Alongside Chengdu Research Base and also in Sichuan Province, Dujiangyun Panda Base and Bifengxia Panda Base are also excellent option for seeing pandas in China, and the Wolong National Nature Reserve is an area of importance for both wild and captive pandas and operates a programme to reintroduce captive-born pandas into the wild. 

How to See Giant Pandas with Wendy Wu Tours

A bucket list item for many visitors to China, a stop to the see the giant pandas is included on a number of our China itineraries.