Surprising Panda Facts | A Day with a Mother and Cub

Today, we follow a giant panda mother and cub living in a bamboo forest in the mountains of China. They sit and munch on bamboo, walk along slowly, and climb trees. Let us watch their calm and gentle day.

Morning light shone into the bamboo forest. Beside her mother, the little cub slowly opened her eyes. A panda's diet is almost entirely bamboo. More than ninety-eight percent of what a panda eats is bamboo leaves and stems.

The moment she wakes up, breakfast begins. A panda spends most of its day eating.

Side by side, the pair began to walk through the morning bamboo forest. Where will today's tastiest bamboo be, I wonder? In one day, a panda eats about twelve to fifteen kilograms of bamboo leaves and stems. In bamboo shoot season, that can reach as much as thirty-eight kilograms, it is said.

As she walks, the cub's toes point slightly inward. That swaying, pigeon-toed walk is really quite charming.

The cub took the bamboo her mother had chosen in both hands and tried nibbling on it, too. Look closely, and you can see she is gripping the bamboo firmly. On a panda's wrist there is a thumb-like bump of bone, made for holding bamboo.

Even hard bamboo is no trouble at all. With a strong jaw and big, flat back teeth, she crunches right through it.

Even after eating this much, a panda can hardly digest the fiber in bamboo. It takes in so little nourishment that it has to keep eating, a great deal of it. Even when her belly is full, she rests for a little while, then reaches for the bamboo again.

That is the rhythm of a panda's life.

The parts a panda eats change with the seasons. Bamboo shoots in spring, leaves in summer and autumn, and in winter, mainly the stems. Right now, it is spring. The tender bamboo shoots were a seasonal treat for mother and cub.

Before this cub was born, her mother carried her inside her belly for about five months. And the length of that time varies a great deal, it is said. When she was born, she weighed only about one hundred grams. That is only about one nine-hundredth of her mother's weight.

When she was born, her eyes were closed. They begin to open only after about six to eight weeks have passed.

At birth, she had pink skin with just a little white fur. After about a month, her black-and-white pattern had come in. Now mother and cub wear a splendid matching pattern. You can tell them apart at a glance, even from far away.

When she had finished eating bamboo, the cub began to climb a nearby tree. Panda cubs are very good at climbing trees. Sometimes a cub waits up in a tree while its mother looks for bamboo.

The warmest time of day is nap time in the shade of a tree. Her mother narrows her eyes, yet now and then, she still nibbles on bamboo. Unlike other bears, pandas do not hibernate. Even in winter, they stay where the bamboo grows and keep on eating.

Her mother called out softly, "Maa." Pandas sometimes bleat in a voice like a sheep's. It was the voice she uses to call her cub. The cub pricked up her ears and came close to her mother's side.

In the early afternoon, the pair came to a small stream. They drank the cold water and took a little rest. The afternoon in the bamboo forest passed by slowly.

As the sun sank low, the bamboo forest was dyed in the colors of the sunset. Side by side, the pair slowly walked back along the path they had come by in the morning.

A panda cub stays with its mother for about a year and a half to two years. During that time, it learns how to choose bamboo, too. One day, the grown cub will begin to live on its own. Wild pandas are animals that basically live alone.

By the time the sky turned deep indigo, the pair had reached the big tree. The bamboo forest at night is quiet. Only the soft sound of the wind rustling the bamboo leaves can be heard.

Stars began to appear. The cub leaned against her mother's body and closed her eyes. A black-and-white pattern, hands made for gripping bamboo, and a small voice like a sheep's. The pair's gentle day quietly came to an end.

In the wide bamboo forest, another day of the pair's life passed by today. Tomorrow, too, amid the scent of bamboo.

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