How Much Do Pandas Weigh?

Written by Mike Edmisten
Updated: July 20, 2023
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The giant panda bear is roughly the same size as the American black bear. Mature adult pandas stand two to three feet tall at the shoulder and measure four to six feet long. But how much do these black-and-white bears weigh?

AgeWeight
Baby Panda3-5 ounces
Adolescent Panda90 pounds
Adult Female Panda150-200 pounds
Adult Male Panda200-300 pounds

Baby Pandas

A newborn panda measures six to seven inches long. Weighing just three to five ounces, the baby bear weighs as much as a stick of butter. While it seems nearly impossible, that baby will grow into a 200+ pound adult.

A baby panda weighs about 1/900th of its mother’s weight. Newborn panda cubs are the smallest babies relative to their mothers’ size of any non-marsupial mammal.

Panda cubs are completely defenseless on their own. While there are no natural predators for mature giant pandas, there are predators that will snag a cub if the opportunity presents itself. Mother pandas must be vigilant as they care for and protect their young.

panda baby newborn incubation hold

Newborn panda cubs are blind and utterly helpless.

©armminivet/Shutterstock.com

Panda Development

One to Six Months

A panda cub is highly underdeveloped at birth. The newborn is hairless and blind. The cub is so helpless that it cannot even regulate its own body temperature. It also cannot urinate or defecate on its own. The mother keeps the cub warm by cradling it against her body. She rubs its belly to stimulate waste excretion. Mother pandas never leave their cub in its first month of life.

The cub vocalizes through cries to alert its mother to its needs as well as to strengthen the bond between the two. Newborn pandas suckle up to 14 times a day.

About two days after its birth, white fur begins to grow. At about one week, black skin patches appear around the ears, eyes, shoulders, and legs. Black fur will grow in these areas in the next one to two weeks. By three weeks old, the cub’s fur is completely filled in.

The cub won’t open its eyes until it is six to eight weeks old, and its ear canals won’t open until about two months of age. 

When the cub is about one month old, its mother may venture out for food and water, but only briefly. At this point, the cub can regulate its own body temperature, allowing its mother a tiny bit of freedom.

The cub won’t begin crawling until it is about three months old. A panda cub will often ride on its mother’s back until it is about five to six months old. 

PANDA TRIPLETS HALF-BIRTHDAY The triplets, which reached 6-month-old on Feb. 1., were the fourth set of giant panda triplets born with the help of artificial insemination procedures in China.

This panda cub with its mother is six months old.

©plavi011/Shutterstock.com

Six to Twelve Months

When the cub reaches five to six months old, it begins experimenting with walking and climbing. It also begins to try solid food since it has 26 to 28 deciduous (baby) teeth at this point. Suckling will gradually decrease over the next six months. 

The cub’s permanent teeth begin to emerge at around one year. The bear will eventually have 42 permanent teeth. The one-year mark is typically when the young bear will be weaned off its mother’s milk entirely, although some cubs still suckle occasionally up to 18 months of age. 

Twelve Months and Beyond

By one year old, a panda generally weighs 50-60 pounds. The panda may stay with its mother for another year. By two years old, the young panda generally strikes out on its own.

At two years old, a panda weighs from 125-150 pounds. It will continue to grow for the next couple of years. Pandas are full-grown at around four years old.

Adult Pandas

The internet is filled with funny videos of clumsy pandas tumbling and somersaulting. That, combined with their beautiful black-and-white fur, may make onlookers believe a panda is a cute, cuddly teddy bear. While it mostly lives peacefully, a mature panda is as dangerous as any other bear.

This bear, which seems so clumsy, can run up to 20 miles per hour. Considering that a full-grown giant panda weighs 200-300 pounds, many bears are moving pretty fast.

The panda has sharp retractable claws and a mouthful of teeth. The bear’s premolars and molars are flat and are used to grind up coarse bamboo. Its large incisors are as fearsome as they appear. 

The panda’s chubby cheeks lend even more to its cuddly reputation, but those cheek bulges are actually made of muscle. The bear’s diet is made up almost entirely of bamboo. Chewing through this fibrous, tough grass requires powerful jaw muscles. A panda’s bite force ranks close to that of a polar bear, tiger, hippopotamus, brown bear, and lion.

Though giant pandas are generally peaceable, they are also wild animals that should not be tested. A panda will not hesitate to defend itself. A mother that has a cub in her charge will be even more aggressive if she senses her cub is threatened.

Animals with Opposable Thumbs-giant panda

The giant panda has fearsome teeth and a powerful bite force.

©Bryan Faust/Shutterstock.com

Diet

As noted above, the panda’s diet is made up almost exclusively of bamboo. A panda may eat protein on very rare occasions, but bamboo accounts for 99% of its food.

Bamboo has few nutrients. On top of that, the panda’s digestive system is rather inefficient. Much of what the bear eats passes through its system as waste. A panda defecates up to 40 times a day. That amounts to 50-60 pounds of feces daily — Still think you want a panda as a pet?

This seems to be at odds with a bear that can grow upwards of 300 pounds. How does a panda grow so large by eating such nutrient-poor food with such an inefficient digestive system? The answer is rather simple: the panda eats a lot…a whole lot!

An adult panda spends 12-15 hours a day eating. The bear’s paw is equipped with a wrist bone that acts as a pseudo thumb. This allows the bear to sit upright and grasp a bamboo stalk with its front paws. The bear will spend most of the day, every day, munching on bamboo.

giant panda eating greens

A panda spends 12-15 hours a day eating bamboo.

©JWPhotoworks/Shutterstock.com

Breeding Maturity

Pandas typically breed for the first time when they are around seven or eight years old, although bears in captivity may breed at a younger age. 

A mature female only ovulates once a year and can only conceive in a two to three-day window around ovulation. The female alerts male pandas of her mating readiness through calls and scent markings.

Panda gestation is short, lasting 135 days on average. While a mother may give birth to twins, only one typically survives. As noted above, a panda cub is utterly helpless and dependent on its mother for everything. Due to the demanding care a cub requires, the mother cannot care for more than one baby. Plus, as noted above, the panda’s bamboo diet is very nutrient-poor. The mother’s body likely could not produce enough milk to support two needy cubs. When twin cubs are born in captivity, the keepers must step in to ensure the abandoned cub survives.

Because raising a cub to independence takes two years, a female panda will breed, at most, every other year. With an average lifespan of 15-20 years in the wild, a female may only raise five to eight cubs in her life.

With such low reproductive rates, the giant panda is at a heightened risk of habitat loss and illegal hunting. 

Giant panda bear cub and Mother Breastfeeding Chengdu, China

Panda cubs suckle for the first 12-18 months of their lives.

©dangdumrong/Shutterstock.com

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Hung Chung Chih/Shutterstock.com


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About the Author

Mike is a writer at A-Z Animals where his primary focus is on geography, agriculture, and marine life. A graduate of Cincinnati Christian University and a resident of Cincinnati, OH, Mike is deeply passionate about the natural world. In his free time, he, his wife, and their two sons love the outdoors, especially camping and exploring US National Parks.

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