1. Giant pandas are good tree climbers and swimmers. 

Giant pandas belong to the Ursidae, family of bears. Just like other bears, they can swim and climb trees. They can climb trees at 7 months. 

2. Giant pandas are born pink and hairless.

Pandas are born looking like baby mouse - pink, tiny and almost hairless, and grow the iconic black and white pattern about three weeks later. But, not all giant pandas are black and white. A few are brown and white.

3. Black patches around eyes are not meant to make giant pandas adorable. 

According to some scientists, large black eyes and ears make giant pandas look more menacing, intimidating, and threatening to other species.

4. A mother panda can only care for one baby at a time. 

In the wild, if a female panda gives birth to twins, she will naturally choose the stronger one. In the captive scenario, the other twin is hand-reared, and swapped regularly so the mother can care for two cubs. 

5. Giant pandas can make up to 13 different sounds. 

They make different sounds under different circumstances. One of the most distinctive sounds they make is a bleat, which sounds like a sheep. 

6. An adult giant panda can eat 20-30 kilograms of bamboo or 40-70 kilograms of bamboo sprouts per day. 

Because of the particularly low digestibility of bamboo, giant pandas spend as long as 10-16 hours eating a day so as to get enough nutrients. In the research bases, panda keepers also feed them on steamed corn bread, vitamin and micronutrients to keep them healthy.

Photo/Shetuwang

7. Giant pandas have six toes.  

Giant pandas has an extra finger on the front paws. Also called the pseudo thumb, the extra finger is used to hold the bamboo. 

8. A giant panda can defecate up to 40 times a day. 

Each adult panda can produce a whopping 20 kilograms of manure a day, as the major ingredient of bamboo is fiber. 

9. Giant panda cubs eat their mother's feces.

Baby pandas are born with sterile intestines and need to eat their mother's feces first so that they can get the intestinal flora vital for their survival. Now, panda poo is also recycled and made into tissues, paper towels and toilet paper.

10. Unlike other bears, giant pandas do not hibernate. 

Giant pandas' bamboo diet rules out the possibility of hibernation. In winter, they will migrate to regions with a higher altitude where the temperature is higher and there are more bamboos.  

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