Panda power: 5 records and 5 fun facts on the world’s cutest bears!
Pandas are way more than just adorable black-and-white bears who live in the forest and munch on bamboo all day.
As a species, they hold multiple world records, and their lives and daily habits can be very interesting!
Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about them.
Hungriest bear
Pandas eat for up to 15 HOURS per day all year round, unlike other bears who tend to slow down and eat less in the winter months, making them the world’s hungriest bear.
But this endless chomping is necessary, because the panda also has the…
Most restricted bear diet
What does that mean, exactly?
Well, about 99% of what a panda eats is bamboo! And because bamboo is relatively innutritious, they have to eat it in large amounts to get all the nutrients they need to be healthy and happy.
If you ate only one food 99% of the time, what would it be?
First panda known to science
The smaller red panda, from south-west China and the Himalayas, doesn’t look like the more popular black-and-white pandas we know, but it is the first panda ever discovered, way back in 1825!
These tree-dwelling pandas have raccoon-like ringed tails – aren’t they super cute?
Smallest baby for a mammal
The newborn giant panda is not very giant at all – in fact, it weighs in at 85-115 g, which is less than a hamster.
At birth, a panda cub is about 1/900th the size of its mum!
WOW.
*Bonus record: the panda is also the most primitive living bear, since it has diverged from all its bear relations between 18 and 25 million years ago.
Fun facts
- On average, pandas poo 40 times a day…
- And sometimes, they do handstands when they wee! They do that to mark their scent, by climbing a tree backwards with their hindfeet until they're in a full handstand upside down, which allows them to leave their scent higher up.
- For the other 1% of their diet, they might eat grass, fruits, insects, eggs, etc.
- Red pandas quack like a duck, and…
- They sleep in their tails! They are so long that they can use them as wraparound blankets for maximum comfort.
Oldest giant panda triplets
And finally…
On 29 July 2024, these panda triplets who live in Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, China, turned 10 years old – making them the oldest giant panda triplets in the world!
Their names? Meng Meng, Shuai Shuai and Ku Ku.
ICONIC!
You can read more fun facts about the world's most amazing animals, in our latest book Guinness World Records Wild Things - OUT NOW!