Source: New York Daily News
A newborn panda
Baby panda cubs are born helpless, pink, blind, and toothless, relying entirely on their mothers for warmth, milk, and protection, and are not mobile until around 3 months old.
Baby pandas are born extremely small, about 1/900th the size of their mother, and are unable to regulate their body temperature, see, or even crawl for the first few weeks.
As they grow, panda cubs, like other bears, become curious and playful. They engage in play fighting with their mothers, which is a prevalent social interaction.
The cubs open their eyes at 6-8 weeks and become mobile around 3 months. They nurse for 8-9 months and are nutritionally weaned at 1 year old, but may not be socially weaned for up to two years.
Giant pandas are solitary and peaceful animals, which will usually avoid confrontation, but if escape is impossible, they will certainly fight back. And as cuddly as they may look, pandas can protect themselves as well as most other bears by using their physical strength, powerful jaws, and teeth.
While their famous black and white fur pattern might stand out to us, it is actually used for camouflage. The white sections help them blend into snowy surroundings during winter, and the dark black fur helps them disappear in the shade of trees in summer.
While pandas are known for their clumsy and lazy behavior often observed in captivity or during feeding, they are actually proficient tree climbers and swimmers. However, they do also spend a lot of time sitting around eating bamboo. It can take as long as 12 hours a day for a panda to eat the amount of bamboo it needs to get enough nutrients.
Because of their low energy diet, they avoid stressful situations and exertion, preferring shallow slopes and solitary living. They live solitary lives, using their sense of smell to avoid each other's territory.
The giant pandas spend as long as 14 hours eating a day. In addition to eating for about half a day, the giant pandas spend the rest of their time sleeping. In the wild, the giant pandas sleep for 2 to 4 hours between meals, with favorite sleeping poses including flat on their backs, lying on their sides, or stretching their paws and rolling themselves up into balls.
Pandas are very nimble in climbing trees and run rapidly when in danger. They propose to their partners, run away from danger, and evade competitors by climbing trees. The giant pandas also walk into valleys, sneak into mountain villages or residences, play with round-shaped utensils as toys, and later abandon them in the wild.
However, the giant pandas consider their cubs holy and untouchable once they give birth, and they will burst into rage at such small things such as their cubs being watched by visitors. The giant pandas can stretch their paws and open their mouths wide like cats to make themselves more comfortable. They can also shake their water off themselves like dogs after a heavy rain.
