Ailuropoda melanoleuca

• The giant panda has a modified "thumb" on its forepaws, which is actually a sesamoid bone of the wrist. This digit allows it to skillfully handle even thin bamboo shoots.
• The giant panda feeds almost exclusively on bamboo, which makes up more than 99% of its diet. It eats up to 30 kg of bamboo and shoots per day.
• Newborn giant pandas are covered in fur and weigh about 1/800 of their mother's weight. The cub weighs between 90 and 130 grams.
• The giant panda's sixth digit evolved independently from the red panda through convergent evolution. A bamboo diet and the need to grip bamboo stalks likely caused these genetic changes to become fixed.
• The giant panda did not reproduce in captivity until the year 2000. In 2020, mating occurred after about 10 years of waiting.
• The giant panda can give a decent fight when attacked, despite its vegetarian diet.
• For survival, the giant panda requires at least two bamboo species. Every few decades, one species of bamboo flowers over large areas, after which its old stalks dry up and new ones take years to regrow.