Pandas
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97 free Pandas trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
50 free pandas trivia questions with answers. Did you know giant pandas have a special bone that acts like a thumb? You'll discover fascinating facts about pandas' diet, habitat, and conservation in this 97-question quiz. See how much you really know about these incredible bears!
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01A giant panda skull was found in the tomb of Empress Dowager Bo, who died in 155 BC during which Chinese dynasty?
Han
Han: Bo was the mother of Emperor Wen, and in 2023 archaeologists reported a complete panda skeleton in a pit beside Wen's own tomb, laid with its head pointing toward the grave.
Q 02The Qinling panda, a subspecies with rare brown-and-white animals, lives only in which Chinese province, home of the Terracotta Army?
Shaanxi
Shaanxi: the subspecies is confined to the Qinling Mountains there, and despite its fame for brown coats most Qinling pandas are ordinary black and white; only a handful of brown ones have been found.
Q 03What are the two main colors of a giant panda's fur?
Black and white
Giant pandas are famous for their distinctive black and white fur. They have black patches around their eyes, ears, shoulders, and legs, with the rest of their body covered in white fur.
Q 04A giant panda is the logo of which international conservation organization?
WWF (World Wildlife Fund)
WWF (World Wildlife Fund) has used the panda since its founding in 1961: naturalist Sir Peter Scott drew the first logo from sketches by Gerald Watterson.
Q 05Bamboo, which makes up nearly all of a wild giant panda's diet, belongs to which group of plants?
Grasses
Grasses: bamboo is a woody giant of the grass family that stays green all year, and pandas eat its leaves, stems and shoots.
Q 06To which conservation status did the IUCN downlist the giant panda in 2016?
Vulnerable
Vulnerable: in September 2016 the IUCN moved the giant panda from Endangered to Vulnerable after national surveys showed the wild population growing; China matched the downlisting in July 2021.
Q 07Which scientific name, whose second word means 'black and white', belongs to the giant panda?
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
Ailuropoda melanoleuca ends in a word built from the Greek for black and white; the label fits less well in the Qinling Mountains, where a few pandas are brown and white.
Q 08A newborn giant panda cub is about the size of which everyday item?
A stick of butter
A stick of butter: the cub weighs only 3 to 5 ounces; after a delayed start, the embryo grows for only about two months before birth.
Q 09Which animal family are giant pandas classified in?
Ursidae (bears)
Ursidae (bears): scientists long argued over whether the panda was a bear, a raccoon relative or something of its own, until DNA studies confirmed it as a bear.
Q 10In which type of habitat do wild giant pandas primarily live?
Temperate mountain forests
Temperate mountain forests in a few ranges of central China are all that remain: fossils show giant pandas once lived as far away as Myanmar, Vietnam and the Beijing area.
Q 11How long is a giant panda's gestation period?
About 3-5 months
The giant panda's gestation period is typically 95-160 days (about 3-5 months). However, this is complicated by delayed implantation, where the embryo may float in the uterus before implanting.
Q 12A wild giant panda can spend as much as 16 hours a day doing what?
Eating
Eating: bamboo gives so little nourishment per mouthful that a panda must feed for most of its waking day, resting between meals to save energy.
Q 13Su Lin, the first giant panda shown in the US, arrived in 1937 at Brookfield Zoo near which city?
Chicago
Chicago: Ruth Harkness brought the infant cub from China in 1936, and Su Lin was the zoo's star attraction until dying there in 1938, barely a year after arriving.
Q 21Genetic studies place the red panda closest to which group of animals?
Raccoons and weasels
Raccoons and weasels, along with skunks, are probably its nearest kin; the red panda is the only living member of its own family and is not a close relative of the giant panda.
Q 22How does a threatened red panda defend itself?
Stand on its hind legs
Stand on its hind legs: the red panda rears up, forepaws raised, ready to strike with its sharp claws; if that fails, it can release a strong smell from glands at the base of its tail.
Q 23Red pandas live in the wild along which great mountain range and in nearby southwestern China?
The Himalayas
Q 14Which Chinese province is home to the largest wild giant panda population?
Sichuan
Sichuan holds most of the world's wild giant pandas and takes in zoo-born ones too: Tai Shan, a cub born at Washington's National Zoo, was flown there in 2010.
Q 15Giant pandas grip bamboo stalks with five fingers and which extra feature on each front paw?
A false thumb
A false thumb: it is really an enlarged wrist bone under a fleshy pad, and it lets a panda handle bamboo with almost human dexterity.
Q 16In what position does a giant panda usually eat its bamboo?
Sitting upright
Sitting upright: a panda eats like a person sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front, which leaves both front paws free to hold the stalks.
Q 17When a giant panda has twins in the wild, what does the mother usually do?
Raise only one cub
Raise only one cub: she cannot care for two, so the weaker twin is abandoned; zoos get round this by swapping the twins every few days so that each is nursed by its mother.
Q 18Outside the breeding season, how do giant pandas typically live?
Alone
Alone: adult pandas avoid one another outside the brief spring mating season, keeping in touch through scent marks on trees and rocks that work like a community bulletin board.
Q 19Chi Chi, the giant panda who inspired a famous conservation logo, arrived at which zoo in 1958?
London Zoo
London Zoo: the charity's founders chose Chi Chi as their emblem because they wanted a symbol that crossed language barriers and still worked when printed in black and white.
Q 20What is the red panda's scientific name?
Ailurus fulgens
Ailurus fulgens, named in 1825, carries the Latin fulgens for 'shining' or 'bright'; the red panda received its scientific name some 44 years before the giant panda was formally described in 1869.
The Himalayas: red pandas live in cool, steep bamboo forests from the range's eastern end into China, spending most of their time up in the trees, where they shelter and sleep.
Q 24Hua Mei, the first giant panda cub to survive to adulthood in the US, was born at which zoo in 1999?
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo: born to Bai Yun in August 1999, Hua Mei became a Panda Cam star, but as the cub of loaned pandas she belonged to China and moved there in 2004.
Q 25What is the biggest threat to giant panda survival in the wild?
Habitat loss and fragmentation
Habitat loss and fragmentation is the greatest threat to wild giant pandas. Roads, railways, and agriculture have divided panda habitat into isolated patches, reducing genetic diversity and access to bamboo.
Q 26How many existing nature reserves were combined to form China's Giant Panda National Park?
About 67
About 67 existing nature reserves were merged into the Giant Panda National Park, which spans Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu and was formally established in October 2021 to reconnect roughly 30 isolated panda populations.
Q 27What does a red panda use its long, bushy tail for?
A blanket for warmth in cold weather
A blanket for warmth in cold weather: the red panda sleeps curled up with its bushy tail wrapped over its face, while in heat it sprawls along a branch with legs dangling.
Q 28The name 'panda' most likely comes from a word in which language?
Nepali
The Nepali phrase 'nigalya ponya' has been translated as 'bamboo-footed'; the name was applied to the red panda first and only later to the giant panda.
Q 29What periodically happens to bamboo that can leave wild giant pandas at risk of starvation?
It flowers and dies off
It flowers and dies off: all the bamboo of one species blooms and dies together, so pandas need at least two species in their range, and die-offs have starved some populations.
Q 30What is the IUCN conservation status of the red panda?
Endangered
Endangered: numbers keep falling even though the red panda is legally protected in every country where it lives, and poachers still take it for its fur.