Giant Panda Teacher Packet - Memphis Zoo

Giant Panda RefugesGoal: To understand that an animal’s habitat has to provide water, food, shelter, and living space for itsinhabitants to survive.Behavioral Objectives:1) To be able to recall that giant pandas come from China2) To be able to describe the giant pandas habitat in China3) To be able to recall that giant pandas eat bambooCurriculum Standard Correlations:Grade 4• 2.1 Investigate the relationships among organisms in a specific ecosystem• 3.1 Realize that plants and animals use food for energyGrade 5• 2.1 Investigate the relationships among organisms in a specific ecosystem• 3.1 Realize that plants and animals use food for energyTime: One weekBackground Information:The giant pandas habitat is located in a few cool, snowy, rainy mountain ranges in southern China. Ahabitat is an area where an animal or plant lives and finds food, water, shelter, and living space. All animalsmust have a habitat to survive in the wild. Their habitat is made up of thick conifer forests with a bamboounderstory.The first thing giant pandas need in their habitat is water. They need water not only to drink, but theyalso use water for bathing and for cooling off during the warmer seasons. Giant pandas drink water in allseasons except during spring when they eat water-rich bamboo shoots.The next thing that giant pandas need is food. Bamboo makes up 99% of the giant pandas diet. Giantpandas get energy from the bamboo they eat. To be able to get enough nutrition from the bamboo, giantpandas must eat twelve hours or more each day to reach the forty pounds or more of bamboo they must eat.Thirdly, giant pandas need shelter. Most of the time giant pandas never leave the bamboo forest, sothey use the bamboo forests as shelter. To protect themselves from the rain and snow, giant pandas will seekshelter in hollow trees or rock caves. If a female giant panda is pregnant, the mother will seek out the shelterof a hollow tree or rock cave as her den. Here, she will give birth to her cubs.The final thing a giant panda needs is plenty of living space. By having lots of living space, the giantpanda can move into other areas to find food, other pandas, or new shelter. Because so many people live inChina, more homes and farms are needed. As a result, homes and farms were built were the giant pandaslived. The giant panda was running out of places to live, so they began to move into areas to find new spaceand food. The Chinese government realized the plight of the giant panda and began setting up refuges for thepandas to live in. A refuge is a large piece of land that has been set aside to protect certain animals or plants.Refuges provide water, food, shelter, and living spaces for all its inhabitants. Thirteen panda reserves havebeen set up in China to help protect the giant panda.28