The scientific name for the Panda is Ailuropoda melanoleuca, meaning "black and white cat-foot."The Panda is a mammal and weighs from three to five ounces when born. It is also born blind and hairless. Once grown the Panda weighs from 165 to 353 pounds. Male Pandas are usually ten to twenty percent heavier than females. It is normally about forty-seven to fifty-nine inches (160 to 180 centimeters) long from head to tail, and the length of it's tail is about five inches.

The Pandas are like a bear in shape with black and white markings on it. The "giant" Pandas are not really giants; It would take about forty giant Pandas to weigh as much as one elephant. The giant Panda bear has a huge head, heavy body, short tail, and rounded ears. Giant Pandas have four huge paws which are very flexible. The black parts of the Panda are: eye patches, ears, legs, feet, chest, and shoulders. All of the other parts of the Panda are white. The white areas of the Panda can be different shades which are: white, pure white, an orangish color or a light brown color.

When the pandas walk or move, they do it in a slow way. The pandas have big sharp claws, this way they can climb up trees easily. Pandas were grouped with raccoons until recent studies showed that they were more bear like. The Panda can live from twenty-five to thirty years. The diet of a Panda consists of bamboo shoots, bamboo stalks, plant roots, flowers, grass, and sometimes they eat fish, pika, or any small rodents. The Panda is a bear but does not act like one. The Panda does not hibernate.