Giant Panda Skull BC-025
$270.00

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Giant Pandas with their distinctive black and white coloration are favorites the world over. They are cousins to bears with their lineages splitting off millions of years ago. The most specialized herbivore of all carnivores, their diet consists of 99 percent bamboo. They take over 12 hours a day to eat the 40 or more pounds they require to obtain sufficient nourishment. Their broad, flat molars and strong jaws are adapted for crushing the bamboo stalks to efficiently extract its nutrients. Pandas also evolved a modified carpal bone, the well known " panda's thumb," to help them better grasp the bamboo stalks while eating. They may weigh up to 220 pounds and reach lengths of 5 feet. In 1937, a Panda was exhibited for the first time in the United States. They played an integral role in re-establishing diplomatic relationships between the normally antagonistic U.S. and China in the early 1970's. Currently China leases Pandas for exhibit at zoos around the world. Graciously loaned to us by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, a portion of each sale goes to the museum to further their research.