Giant Pandas

Giant Pandas, written by Keira Freed.

《大熊猫》，凯拉·弗里德 著

Meet the Giant Panda Giant pandas are among the most loved animals in the world. Members of the bear family, giant pandas are easily recognizable because of their thick black and white fur. While giant pandas remain in only one place on earth, the forest -covered mountains of Western China. They are so rare and endangered that they have become a symbol of the effort to protect Earth's animals.

认识大熊猫 大熊猫是世界上最受人们喜爱的动物之一。 大熊猫属于熊科，浓密厚实的黑白皮毛让它们很好辨认。 如今全世界只有中国西部覆盖着森林的高山中还生活着大熊猫。 它们十分稀有且濒临灭绝，已经成为全球保护野生动物行动的象征。

Food and feeding. The name panda comes from the language of Nepal, a country near China. Panda means bamboo eater, and bamboo makes up almost all of a panda's diet. Bamboo, a kind of grass that grows extremely tall, is plentiful in the cold, damp, high mountains where pandas live. Bamboo is low in the nutrients that pandas need for energy. For this reason, pandas must eat an amazing amount of bamboo in order to get enough nutrients. An adult panda spends as many as 16 hours a day eating up to 18 kilograms 40 pounds of bamboo.

食物与进食 熊猫这个名字来源于中国邻国尼泊尔的语言。 熊猫的意思就是吃竹子的动物，竹子几乎占了大熊猫全部的食物。 竹子是一种能长得很高的草本植物，在大熊猫栖息的寒冷潮湿高山上分布非常广。 竹子里能为大熊猫提供能量的营养成分很少。 因此，大熊猫必须吃下非常多竹子才能获得足够的营养。 一只成年大熊猫每天要花足足16个小时，吃掉最多18公斤（40磅）竹子。

Giant panda lifecycle. Giant pandas are mammals and like all mammals they give birth to live young and nurse them. A female panda begins having cubs when she is five or six years old and then she gives birth to only one or two cubs every few years. A mother panda must work full time to care for just one baby. She usually raises only one cub and ignores any others, which then die of neglect.

大熊猫的生命周期 大熊猫是哺乳动物，和所有哺乳动物一样，它们胎生幼崽并且进行哺乳。 雌性大熊猫长到五六岁时会开始生宝宝 之后每隔几年才会产下一到两只幼崽。 熊猫妈妈要全天不停歇才能照顾好一只幼崽。 它通常只养育一只幼崽，不管其他幼崽，没被照顾的幼崽就会死去。

At birth, newborn pandas are tiny, blind and completely dependent on their mother's care. Because they are so helpless, they are vulnerable to predators. A baby panda develops slowly and cannot walk until the age of four months. It stops nursing and begins eating bamboo by the age of one year. During the first two years of its life, a panda cub stays close to its mother, learning how to survive in the forest. The cub figures out how to find the best food plants and how to tell friend from enemy when it encounters other animals. A young panda's biggest dangers are leopards and wild dogs.

刚出生的熊猫宝宝个头很小，眼睛看不见，完全依赖熊猫妈妈的照顾。 因为幼崽毫无自保能力，很容易被掠食者伤害。 熊猫宝宝发育很慢，四个月大的时候才会走路。 一岁的时候它们就会断奶，开始吃竹子了。 出生后的头两年，熊猫宝宝都会一直待在妈妈身边，学习如何在森林里生存。 熊猫宝宝会学着找到最好的食用植物，遇到其他动物时学习分辨敌友。 幼年大熊猫最大的天敌是豹子和野犬。

A panda is an adult by the age of three and it can fend for itself without its mother. It settles in an area called a home range where it feeds alone. Each panda gives other pandas signs to keep away from its home range. One sign is a smelly liquid that the panda releases from its body and rubs on tree trunks. A panda also marks the edges of its home range by scratching the bark of tree trunks.

大熊猫三岁就成年了，可以离开妈妈独立照顾自己。 它会定居在一片叫做家域的区域里独自觅食。 每只大熊猫都会留下记号，提醒其他大熊猫远离自己的领地。 其中一种记号是大熊猫身体分泌的有气味的液体，它们会把这种液体蹭在树干上。 大熊猫还会通过抓挠树干树皮，标记自己领地的边界。