Giant Pandas

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Animal Themes
Endangered Animals Theme Unit
Mammals

Giant Pandas

Giant Pandas
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.51

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		extremely, linings, nourishment, species, panda, farewell, giant, thus, meat-eating, stems, nutrient, bamboo, pounds, bears, digestive, birth
	content words:		Western China

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Giant Pandas

¹     An endangered species, the giant panda can only be found in the mountain bamboo forests of western China. There are only about 1,600 wild giant pandas left in the world. Giant pandas are members of the bear family. They are mammals. They have a creamy white fur coat with black bands across their shoulders and black patches over their legs, ears, and eyes. Even though giant pandas look like bears, they do not behave like bears. Unlike their meat-eating relatives, giant pandas are vegetarians for the most part. Their favorite food is bamboo. However, if they are extremely hungry and bamboo is nowhere to be found, giant pandas may eat grass, fruits, or sometimes, small animals like birds and fish.

²     Giant pandas have powerful jaws and jaw muscles that can crush bamboo shoots, stems, and leaves between their large, flat teeth. They also have tough linings in their throats to protect against sharp bamboo splinters. However, the giant panda's digestive system is not good at absorbing fibers, the main part of bamboo. Much of the bamboo passes through giant pandas' bodies undigested. Thus, giant pandas must eat a lot of bamboo every day to get enough nourishment. In fact, they spend at least 12 hours every day eating about 33 pounds of bamboo.

³     Giant pandas do not live in groups. They are loners .....
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Animal Themes

Animal Themes

Endangered Animals Theme Unit

Endangered Animals Theme Unit

Mammals

Mammals

Animals

		Amphibians

		Birds

		Deserts

		Fish

		Freshwater

		Grasslands

		Insects

		Invertebrates

		Mammals

		Oceans

		Polar Regions

		Rain Forest

		Reptiles