The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a true bear native to China. Unlike most bears (omnivores to fully carnivores), pandas are primarily herbivores with their diet consisting of 99% bamboo. Pandas weigh on average of 250 lbs and live between 20 to 30 years. A newborn panda bear is only 1/800 of the mother's weight, proportionately the smallest of any placental mammal. Pandas also have a unique adaptation in that their thumb is actually a modified wrist bone, resulting in five fingers and an opposable "thumb," great for gripping bamboo stalks like this junior panda is doing as he contently rests against a hollow tree trunk. My thanks again to the Ceramic Art Studio and Shop.
Wet Clay Model
