© 2016 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 32, No. 20
About 300 giant pandas live
in zoos and research centers
worldwide. Threatened with
extinction, these captive
breeding programs are seen
as hope for the giant panda’s
survival.
What’s black and white and loved by kids all over the world? Pandas, of course!
Read on to learn about these gentle creatures.
All giant pandas and their
cubs are on loan from China.
Agreements between these
zoos and the Chinese
conservation organizations
are helping to preserve these
endangered species.
3
Can you imagine a world without pandas?
Only about 1,800 giant pandas live in the
wild today. They are in danger of
becoming extinct—gone forever.
6
3
2
4
Giant pandas live in the Sichuan
mountains of southwest China,
where they feed on bamboo.
9
Scientists debated this for years. About
20 years ago, a group of experts determined
that giant pandas are most
closely related to bears,
Panda
although they are also a
eye
lot like raccoons.
Pandas are losing their habitat. Giant pandas
need forests with lots of bamboo to survive.
These forests are rapidly disappearing as
humans use them to meet their needs.
7
Standards Link: Life Science: Students know changes
in the environment can be detrimental to organisms.
The Chinese
call the panda
“Da xiong mao,”
which means
“giant bear cat.”
3
Giant pandas need to eat a lot of food every
day. They eat day and night, constantly wandering
through the forest eating and eating. Add up the
numbers along the correct path of the maze to find
out how many pounds
of food one giant
panda can eat
in a day.
3
Smithsonian National
Zoo, Washington D.C.
14+8-18 = ____
4
Pandas are different from
Bear
other bears. For one thing,
eye
they have eyes like a cat.
And their front paws have
an unusual thumb—sometimes called a
false thumb. This is not actually a thumb,
like a human thumb. It is a part of the wrist
bone that sticks out to the side like an
extra finger.
Do the math to find out the
number of giant pandas in
each of these zoos in
America and Canada:
Memphis Zoo
3
22-13-7 = ____
San Diego Zoo
9+8-14 = ____
5
While bamboo makes up most
of a giant panda’s diet, pandas
sometimes eat small animals.
Because of this small amount
of meat eating, giant pandas
are classified as carnivores.
4
2
The panda is
a symbol of
peace in
China.
9
8
Toronto Zoo
17+23-38 = ____
3
Standards Link: Number Sense:
Calculate sums to 30.
The largest giant pandas can grow to be about 250
pounds. Ask five friends how much they weigh.
Add up their weights. Does it equal 250 pounds?
Baby pandas are itty-bitty bears. They weigh only
4 to 6 ounces at birth (114-170 grams).
Invent a
Creature
Number the
pandas in order
from smallest to
biggest.
A mother panda is about
800 times heavier than her
baby. (If a human mother
with a 7-pound baby
weighed 800 times more,
she would weigh 5,600
pounds. That’s nearly 3 tons!)
Standards Link: Life Science: Students know there is a variation among individuals of one kind within a population.
Because of its distinctive
features and its status as
endangered, the giant panda
was chosen by the world’s
largest conservation
organization as a symbol
of conservation.
W L F D
Use these four missing
letters to fill in the blanks
to discover the name of
the organization.
_ OR _ _
_ I _ _ _ I _ E _ UN _
PANDA
CHINA
MOTHER
HUMAN
BABY
GIANT
BAMBOO
CAT
BLACK
WHITE
BEARS
CREATURE
ZOOS
EYE
FOOD
38-19-15 = ____
Several of these zoos have
Panda Cams.
Complete the grid by using all the
letters in the word BEARS in each
vertical and horizontal row. Each letter
should only be used once in each row.
Some spaces have been filled in for you.
Standards Link: Writing
Applications: Write brief
expository descriptions.
Find the words in the puzzle,
then in this week’s Kid Scoop
stories and activities.
E Y E O C S B E T Y
Y G T O A J R Z B T
Z I I M E U W A O A
A A H P T O B O E S
N N W A O O B M A B
I T E N S N Z O O S
H R T D M O T H E R
C O N A M U H P Z Y
D O O F C K C A L B
Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognized identical
words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns.
This week’s word:
STATUS
The noun status means
the position or rank of
a person or thing.
Sarah lost her status as
leading goal scorer when
she broke her leg.
Try to use the word status
in a sentence today when
talking with your friends
and family members.
The Cutest Animal
in the World
What’s black and white
and red all over?
Look at one page of today’s newspaper and
circle in red all the words you know that
begin with the letter P.
ANSWER: Winnie the pew!
Standards Link: Reading Comprehension: Follow simple
written directions.
Look through the
newspaper and
cut out parts of
different animals
to create a new
animal. Give your
creature a name.
Describe where
your animal lives
and what it eats.
Zoo Atlanta
Which animal do you think
is the cutest animal in the
world? Why? Write a
paragraph to convince other
children of your opinion.