The Giant Panda—A National Emblem of China The giant panda, which is one of the world’s most popular creatures, has been giv

I’ d like to tell you about the giant panda, which is a bear that’s native to China, and one of the world’s best-loved and most easily recognized animals.
    The giant panda is a national emblem of China, and over history the Chinese have given it more than twenty different names. Among them are names such as ’spotted bear’—describing its black and white body, ’bamboo bear’—referring to its diet and, ’white leopard’, possibly because of its tree-climbing abilities. Then there’s the current, most frequently used term, ’cat bear’, which is also echoed in the scientific Latin name for the species.
    There’s been much debate about how to classify the giant panda, although recent molecular studies seem to confirm that it is actually a bear. However, the species differentiated early in history from all other bears, making it the only member of an otherwise extinct branch of the family. For that reason, it is considered by certain experts to be a living fossil. The animal known as the red panda, which shares its habitat, is in fact only a very distant relative.
    The giant panda is a solitary creature with relatively poor vision but an acute sense of smell, and so relies principally on scent to communicate with other individuals. It secretes a strong-smelling substance from its glands, which it rubs onto trees and stones on the edges of its territory. These scent markings convey an enormous amount of information, not only about the animal’s gender, state of health and even their mood, but also how long ago the ’ message’ was left.
    Unlike some other animals, the giant panda can’t communicate via facial expression, or even ear or tail position. But it does produce a surprising range of vocalisations, including a honking sound to indicate distress, a barking sound to convey hostility to enemies. The giant panda used to live in a vast forest area, but, due to extensive farming and deforestation, much of its habitat has been destroyed, leaving only small populations in a handful of mountain areas in the country. Current estimates of numbers remaining in the wild range between only one and two thousand individuals.