Panda FAQ: myths vs facts

Myth: Pandas are lazy.

Fact: Giant pandas spend 10 to 16 hours a day foraging and eating. They move slowly because bamboo yields so little energy: a 2015 study found their daily energy expenditure was only about 38 percent of the expected value for a mammal their size. Slowness is a survival strategy, not laziness. See the panda energy budget.

Myth: Pandas are bad at breeding and would die out without help.

Fact: Wild giant pandas breed successfully, and the wild population has grown from about 1,100 in the 1980s to nearly 1,900. Breeding is naturally slow (one short fertile window a year, one cub raised every two years at most), and early captive breeding was difficult, which created the myth. The main historic problem was habitat loss, not reproduction.

Myth: Giant pandas are endangered.

Fact: The IUCN downgraded them to Vulnerable in 2016. That is still a threatened category. Red pandas, on the other hand, are Endangered and declining. See are giant pandas still endangered?

Myth: The red panda is a kind of raccoon, or a small bear.

Fact: It has been classified with both in the past, but DNA places it in its own family, Ailuridae. See are red pandas related to giant pandas?

Myth: Pandas are harmless and cuddly.

Fact: Giant pandas are bears with very strong jaws. The Smithsonian notes they can be as dangerous as any other bear, and wild adults that meet may swat, lunge and bite.

Myth: Pandas eat only bamboo.

Fact: Almost: bamboo is about 99% of a giant panda's diet and about 95% of a red panda's. Giant pandas occasionally eat other plants, rodents or carrion; red pandas also eat fruit, acorns, insects, eggs and sometimes small birds or rodents.

Myth: Pandas hibernate in winter like other bears.

Fact: Giant pandas do not hibernate, because bamboo cannot give them enough fat reserves. Red pandas do not hibernate either, but can drop into a short dormant state in severe cold. See do pandas hibernate?

Myth: A panda cub is born looking like a small panda.

Fact: A newborn giant panda is pink, nearly hairless, blind and about 1/900th of its mother's weight. Its black and white markings develop over the following weeks. Red panda cubs, by contrast, are born furred.

Myth: Every panda in a foreign zoo was given as a gift.

Fact: Today, giant pandas abroad are on loan under conservation cooperation agreements, and cubs born abroad belong to China and usually move there when young. The exceptions include Xin Xin in Mexico City and the pandas at Taipei Zoo. See where to see pandas.