How strong are giant pandas?
How strong are giant pandas?
The giant panda is often seen as cute and cuddly, but they have all the ferocious strenght you would expect a bear to have.
They might look a little rotund and fluffy, but their frames carry a lot of muscle and whilst they’re smaller than a grizzle or polar bear, they’re just as strong pound for pound.
They’re capable of moving their own bodyweight (100kg+) with ease, climbing and performing borderline gymnastics despite their significant weight.
If they decided to wrestle or bear hug a human, even the strongest people would look weak by comparison.
Their jaws are especially strong, they have one of the strongest bites in the world, comparable to hippos, big cats and other bears. They wouldn’t struggle to bite through bone.
How fast are giant pandas?
The giant panda isn’t just strong, they’re also surprisingly fast (on the rare occassion they can be bothered to move!).
A full grown adult can max out at speeds of 20 miles an hour, which isn’t much slower than record breaking human sprinters over short distances.
Don’t expect to see a giant panda break any marathon records in the near future though, it’s estimated in the wild they move on average ~25 meters an hour (or about 0.015 miles).
Are giant pandas good climbers?
Most giant pandas are excellent tree climbers and learn from a very young age, often they start climbing solo as early as 5 months old.
Some however never show an interest in climbing and don’t appear to develop the skill.
Their ability to climb is somewhat baffling to experts, as pandas unique body shape should make climbing unappealing to them.
They have shorter legs than most bears, with a larger body and large head – all of which should make it harder to scale trees. But clever pandas actually use their head (literally) as another touchpoint when climbing, helping them to shimmy their way up sheer surfaces.
How high can a giant panda jump?
Giant pandas can and do jump, but rarely have any reason to jump as high as they possibly can.
They don’t jump for travel or hunting, in fact the only time they ever really bother is when they’re playing.
The likelihood is that they can’t jump very high, as their body isn’t particularly suited to, and it’s never been possible to actively test as pandas don’t much enjoy taking part in tests of physical fitness.
Can giant pandas swim?
Yes, pandas are confident and strong swimmers, like all members of the bear family.
Giant pandas don’t spend much time in the water though, as they don’t instinctually hunt for any fish or marine life.
Their natural habitat also doesn’t feature many sigfniciant water features, so they generally don’t have a need to swim often (especially as they travel such short distances each day).