What kind of animal is a giant panda? For more than a century scientists argued whether giant pandas are bears, raccoon relatives or a family of their own. DNA studies show that giant pandas are bears. They are bears with black-and-white fur, and a giant panda is about as big as an American black bear. In Chinese, the giant panda's name means "large bear cat," and it is also called the bamboo bear.

Pandas are bears with unusual habits at the table. About 99 percent of a giant panda's diet is bamboo. Its digestive system is like a meat-eater's, so it digests bamboo poorly, and it takes in only about one-fifth or less of the nutrients in the bamboo it eats. Bamboo does not give much nourishment, so a giant panda must eat a great deal of it.

Eating takes up much of a panda's day. A giant panda spends 10 to 16 hours of every day finding and eating food. It usually sits upright to eat, and it grips stalks with an enlarged wrist bone that works like a thumb. That "thumb" is really a bone covered by a pad of skin, not a true finger. Strong jaws and flat back teeth crush the tough bamboo.

Giant pandas usually live alone. A giant panda can climb trees and swim, and male giant pandas sometimes do handstands against trees. Giant pandas leave scent marks in their habitat, and most of their communication is by scent. Their scent marks tell other pandas who has passed by and how long ago.

A panda cub begins life very small. A newborn giant panda cub is about the size of a stick of butter, and it weighs only about 3 to 5 ounces. It is blind and helpless. A cub opens its eyes when it is about 6 to 8 weeks old, and it cannot move around on its own until it is about three months old. A female giant panda can have cubs only during a two- to three-day window once a year. A mother may have two cubs, but usually only one survives.

Wild giant pandas live in the mountains of China, in only three provinces: Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. Their forests lie between about 5,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level, and the air is wet and misty. A giant panda home needs at least two kinds of bamboo. When bamboo flowers and dies off in an area, pandas can run short of food.

One puzzle is still open. A giant panda has black ears, black patches around its eyes, black legs and shoulders, and a white body. Scientists are not sure why giant pandas are black and white. Some scientists think the pattern helps pandas recognize each other from far away. Some scientists think it helps hide pandas in the forest.

Words to know

• DNA: body's code
• digestive: breaking down food
• provinces: regions of China
• nutrients: food goodness
• scent: smell