Panda Bear: China’s Symbol

Panda is the most precious animal in the world and we often it panda. It is very rare, so it is regarded as first class national protected animal. There are two colors on its body. We often call it "China's national treasure". Panda is a unique animal in China. It is a kind of bear. Panda's habitats are Sichuan Province and Shanxi Province in China. Nowadays, approximately 1590 feral pandas live in our world. The grown panda has 120 to 190 centimeters long and its weight is about 85 to 125 kilograms. They eat bamboo to live. People like pandas because of their lovable appearance. In 1961, the World Wildlife Fund was founded and it chose panda as its symbol. It is an important symbol of species protection. When we deal with foreign affairs, we often see it as a symbol of friendship.
Ailuaractos lufengensis is panda's forefather. Ailuropus is panda's scientific name. That means that it is a bear, but it is similar with cat. Its essence is a bear. However, its appearance is like a cat. Strictly speaking, "panda" is a wrong word. There is a story about its name. Before 1949, Beibei Museum in Chongqing displayed the panda's sample. People can see the word "Ailuropus". But, at that time, people were used to read a journal's title from right to left. Hence journalists made a mistake on this word and people got a word "panda". Because of medium, people knew this word "panda". People could not rectify this mistake, so they accepted this name. Until now, this name has been used by people. In fact, scientists call it "Ailuropus" because its ancestor is similar with bear's. Both of them belong to carnivore.
Panda's fossil reveals that in pluvial early period they lived in the world. It was about two to three million years ago. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, it was heyday of panda. It is a part of stegodon biota. Panda's habitats covered the most parts of China's east and south. These habitats included the parts between Beijing and Burma's south and Vietnam's north. People discovered panda's fossils in temperate rain forest or subtropical rainforest, whose height is 500 to 700 meters. Little by little, other species became extinct one after another. Yet today we can see pandas and they still maintain their old characteristics. These fossils have much scientific value, so these are regarded as "living fossils". We like to treat them as our national treasures. Now, the areas that the pandas are living are very few. People see the changes of their habitats in modern times. In recent hundreds of years, our population increased sharply and we occupied land, so many habitats disappeared. Before, pandas lived in river valley, but now people are living there. Bamboos grow in the areas, whose heights are between 1200 to 3400 meters. So pandas must live there. At present, these pandas are on the verge of extinction. In order to protect them, the government has adopted many useful actions to deal with their problems. Pandas' survival and downfall have attracted the public's attention. From now on, protecting pandas and their breeding are especially important. So we should find other habitats for them which are suitable to them. We can create a good living environment for pandas.