The giant panda, one of China's more well-known and loved animals, is a state protected (first class) animal. It inhabits the bamboo forest zones at 2,000-3,000 meters above sea level in north Sichuan Province, and south of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.
A wild giant panda's diet consists almost exclusively of young bamboo leaves. Its average life span is 35 years.
With naturally poor eyesight, the animal is largely solitary with no fixed abode. It eats while walking and sleeps under trees. Although it ambles about rather clumsily, it is surprisingly nimble, climbing trees and wading across rivers with ease.
It is also an ancient animal and some zoologists call it a "living fossil." It reportedly once roamed the Earth alongside the likes of the now-extinct sabre-toothed tiger.
The giant panda is an endangered species and is on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals. Its likeness forms the basis for the Global Conservation Organization's emblem.
