Giant Panda
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a conservation icon, revered for its unique coat pattern and cultural significance. Also known as the panda bear, bamboo bear, or in Chinese as Daxiongmao, meaning “large bear cat,” these charismatic mammals are endemic to the People's Republic of China. Giant pandas play an important role in seed dispersal, keeping forests healthy. They also generate funds through tourism, benefitting conservation at large.
Wild giant pandas are found in the mountains of central China in dense bamboo and coniferous forests at altitudes of 5,000 to 10,000 feet. Spending approximately 10-16 hours a day foraging, these bears skillfully use their elongated wrist bones, resembling opposable thumbs, and their strong jaws to feast primarily on bamboo. Unlike other bear species, giant pandas do not enter torpor during the winter, but instead migrate short distances to lower elevations.
Driven nearly to extinction by habitat loss and poaching, only an estimated 1,800 of these elusive and secretive mammals remain in the wild. The low reproductive rate of giant pandas makes them more vulnerable to threats and extinction. In China, a system of nature reserves was established to protect the species’ forested mountain habitat. In addition, conservation and captive breeding programs are helping to preserve populations in the wild and ensure a stable population of giant pandas in captivity.
China has long extended gifts and loans of giant pandas to zoos around the world as symbols of friendship. We continue to work in partnership with China to support giant panda conservation. By protecting the giant panda, we are helping to safeguard the broader ecosystem that many people, animals, and plants depend on.
Laws & Regulations
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the giant panda as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1984. The species is also included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). These international and domestic regulations prohibit the use and international trade of the species for commercial purposes.
Today, giant pandas in the U.S. are on loan from China as part of robust scientific conservation programs, with permits issued by our Branch of Permits, to support China's giant panda conservation programs and enhance the long-term survival of the species. Participating institutions housing giant pandas hold permits under the ESA and CITES.
Guidance for institutions wishing to import pandas for public display, breeding, or to implement scientific research as part of this long-term commitment to giant panda conservation is provided through the United States Policy on Giant Panda Import Permits, also known as the Panda Policy.
