The Panda 



between about 7000 and 12,000 feet, as far westwards 

 as Nepal, and extending eastwards through the moun- 

 tainous districts of Assam into Yunnan, but being 

 unknown in the Malay countries. In the Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History for September 1902, Mr. 

 O. Thomas described from Szechuen a larger form of 

 panda, under the name of .-Elurus fulgens styani. 



For a long time the panda was regarded as repre- 

 senting a family group by itself, although its resem- 

 blance to the American raccoons had been pointed out 

 by Brian Hodgson and Edward Blyth, the latter of 

 whom classed it among the raccoons. In 1869, when 

 the first living specimen brought to England was 

 exhibited in the Zoological Gardens, Mr. A. D. 

 Bartlett remarked how closely this animal resembled 

 the American kinkajou (one of the raccoon family) in 

 habits, while at the same time Sir W. H. Flower 

 demonstrated its anatomical relationships with the 

 raccoons ; and in the Fauna of British India ^ Dr. 

 W, T. Blanford definitely classed the panda with 

 raccoons in the i-^TciAy Procy onid^ . Remains of a larger 

 species of panda have been discovered in rocks of 

 Tertiary age in England and Hungary. 



Like all animals of the Eastern Himalaya, the panda 

 is a forest-dwelling creature, making its lair either in 

 hollow trees, or, as some have suggested, in crevices of 

 rocks ; but it is by no means purely arboreal, as it 

 frequently descends to the ground for the purpose of 

 feeding. Neither is it by any means exclusively 

 nocturnal, although it passes a considerable portion of 

 the day in slumber, its chief feeding - times being 

 morning and evening. Generally two, sometimes with 

 their offspring, are found in company ; and, as might 

 be assumed from the structure of its teeth, the species 

 is mainly a vegetable-feeder, although it eats eggs, and 

 probably also insects and grubs. Since it is dull of 

 hearing and sight, and apparently not endowed with an 

 acute sense of smell, while its means of defence are 



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