LOOK at any list of cute animals and at the top is probably a giant panda. These nature's fluffballs are cute, cuddly, goofy and playful.
We humans, love pandas. In fact, we love them so much that through sheer will and conservationist fortitude, we brought pandas from the brink of extinction to population numbers large enough that they are no longer considered to be endangered. This despite the giant panda's notoriously low breeding rate. The pandas didn't make it easy either. Not only are they not great at making babies, but the newborns cannot see, hear, or crawl. They are so helpless that they can't regulate their body temperatures or even excrete waste on their own in the first weeks of life.
Unlike their animated brethren Po, from Kung Fu Panda, the giant panda is also seriously restricted by its diet of almost nothing but bamboo. And since this plant is low in nutrients, they spend more than half a day eating it just to meet their daily nutritional requirements. Pandas can eat meat to better sustain themselves but they just don't want to.
Just like Po however, pandas are quite clumsy in nature, which leads to them falling off trees and tripping over themselves.
But it's probably this very helplessness that has pulled at our heartstrings and made us want to protect these defenceless, powerless scallywags.
Are they completely harmless though? Would pandas attack if provoked?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Many people forget that a giant panda is actually a bear, belonging to the Ursidae family tree. While they are solitary and peaceful animals who will usually avoid confrontation, if pushed into a corner with no way out, they will fight back.
Adult pandas are stronger than the average man and have sharp claws and teeth.
According to cases in the Beijing Zoo examined by the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, pandas have attacked humans when provoked.
In one case, a panda severely bit the calf of a drunk tourist, who had entered the panda enclosure to try and pet the animal.
So next time you're at the zoo, looking at a cute giant panda tumbling around the grass and feel a sudden urge to climb in there and give the fella a squeeze, remember this saying.
"Don't poke the bear".
References:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/10/22/are-pandas-dangerous-attacks/7962959001/
https://wildlifeinformer.com/are-pandas-dangerous/
https://a-z-animals.com/blog/are-pandas-dangerous/
https://bestofpanda.com/why-pandas-bad-surviving/
