At Panda’s Place: Where do pandas live?

Panda’s Territory: Where do pandas come from?

Giant pandas (a) live/ (b) are living/ (c) have lived in the bamboo forests of China for millions years and have been honored by the Chinese for a very long time. In fact, giant pandas (a) appear/ (b) are appearing/ (c) have appeared in Chinese art for thousands of years. Because the giant panda is considered a national treasure in China, it is protected by law so that it (a) becomes/ (b) becomes not/ (c) does not become extinct.

Although giant pandas have long been known to the Chinese, they (a) are/ (b) do/ (c) have a recent discovery for people living outside of China. The first westerner to observe a live giant panda in the wild (a) is/ (b) was/ (c) had been a German zoologist named Hugo Weigold. In 1916, he (a) bought/ (b) has bought/ (c) had bought a cub while he was on expedition.

At Panda’s Place: Where do pandas live?

There is only one place where giant pandas (a) live/ (b) lived/ (c) were living in the wild: high in the mountains of central China. There, they (a) live/ (b) are living/ (c) have lived in cold and rainy bamboo forests that are often misty and shrouded in heavy clouds. Once upon a time, giant pandas (a) lived/ (b) have lived/ (c) had lived in lowland areas. However, as people (a) builded/ (b) built/ (c) had built more and more farms and cities on that land, the giant pandas were forced up into the mountains. Today, they (a) live/ (b) lived/ (c) have lived at elevations of 5,000 to 10,000 feet.

Panda's Lunch: What do pandas eat?

In the wild, a giant panda’s diet is 99% bamboo. Bamboo is a giant grass that (a) grows/ (b) is growing/ (c) has grown in the mountains of China. Because bamboo is so low in nutrients, an adult giant panda (a) eats/ (b) is eating/ (c) has eaten between 20 and 40 or more pounds of it each day. It eats the stems, shoots, leaves and all.

There are about 25 different types of bamboo that wild pandas will eat. Some nutritionists (a) think/ (b) are thinking/ (c) have thought that giant pandas need to eat not only different parts of the bamboo, but also different kinds of bamboo in order to get proper nutrition. In addition to bamboo, giant pandas (a) ate/ (b) eat/ (c) have eaten other grasses, insects and occasionally, small rodents.

In zoos, giant pandas eat bamboo too, but they (a) have/ (b) may/ (c) would also eat sugar cane, rice gruel, carrots, apples and sweet potatoes.