Giant pandas are most recognized by their black-and-white coat and voracious appetite for Chinese bamboo, however, these animals largely remain a mystery. But new research is giving an unprecedented glimpse into the secret life of these pandas.
Using rare GPS collars, researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have been tracking five pandas in the wild, and recently published their surprising findings (PDF) in the Journal of Mammalogy.
"Pandas are such an elusive species and it's very hard to observe them in wild, so we haven't had a good picture of where they are from one day to the next," Vanessa Hull, a research associate at MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS), said in a statement.
"This was a great opportunity to get a peek into the panda's secretive society that has been closed off to us in the past," added co-author Jindong Zhang.
The five pandas they studied included three female adults named Pan Pan, Mei Mei and Zhong Zhong, a young female Long Long and a male dubbed Chuan Chuan. They were captured, collared and tracked from 2010-2012 in the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwest China.
Until recently, for protective reasons, the Chinese government had banned the use of GPS tracking collars on giant pandas for more than a decade. So this study is a breakthrough in that it can now use this technology to give a unique glimpse into their day-to-day habits.
For example, one surprise to researchers was that pandas seem to hang out in groups sometimes - until now, they had been renowned for being loners. But the pandas Chuan Chuan, Mei Mei and Long Long were found to be in the same part of the forest at the same time for several weeks in the fall and outside the usual spring mating season.
"This might be evidence that pandas are not as solitary as once widely believed," Zhang said.
What's more, it's been known that pandas follow bamboo - their main and virtually only source of food. Once they munch through one patch they move to the next, experts say, which accounts for a lot of their territory. But what this sneak peek into their world revealed, Hull said, is that the pandas returned to core areas after being gone for long spans of time - up to six months. It suggests the pandas do remember successful eating experiences, and return in anticipation of regrowth.
Giant pandas are an endangered species, with just over 1,800 individuals left in the wild - they live mainly in bamboo forests high in the mountains of western China, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). And even though it was recently announced that the wild panda population has increased nearly 17 percent, habitat fragmentation, human impacts and climate change continue to be major threats to these animals.
What we do know about these mysterious creatures is that they weigh about 220-330 pounds, can grow more than four feet tall, and must eat anywhere 26 to 84 pounds of bamboo a day. But hopefully this new research can help us learn more about these amazing animals so that we can better learn how to protect them in the future.
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