Okay, fine. We lied. Last time 'round, we promised you more regular updates, but we bear-ly managed to upend the previous five-month gap record here with a nearly three-month go-between the last issue and this one. We'll blame the weather [which has been glorious] or work [which has been incessant] but really, we can't do anything but blame the bears, who have been active as ever. [Folks out there in the Twitterverse have been asking for this service again, and here we are, in full service.] Hence, this special (nearly) DOUBLE ISSUE of IMPORTANT BEAR NEWS. (You're welcome.) As always, send bear ideas and your favorite bear items to @ImportBearNews. Or don't. Up to you. [And before you even start: we know giant pandas aren't TECHNICALLY bears. If you truly care about that kind of a distinction, then this newsletter probably isn't for you.]

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'Nuisance Bears' Remain Bears, Also Nuisances
Midwestern Governors Assume Bears Unemployed
NH Ignores Neighbor, Bans Toxic Chocolate 
SC Welcomes Zoo Bears, Rejects Bear Hunters
If Norway Builds It, Bears Will Come
CO Bear DNGAF, Nibbles To Show It Can
Suburbia: Not Good For Bears
NC Bears Also Sick Of Humans, To Be Quite Honest
                                                Maybe Just Avoid The Smoky Mountains?
                                                Bears Could Also Giver Fewer Cares About Dogs
                                                But Dog Food, That's Probably Good For Bears
                                                Bears Have No Patience For Human Fathers, Either
                                                Still, Remember: Bears Are Cute

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Giant panda [Ailuropoda melanoleuca] also called panda bear,  
bearlike mammal inhabiting bamboo forests in the mountains of central China. Its striking coat of black and white, combined with a bulky body and round face, gives it a captivating appearance that has endeared it to people worldwide. Large males may attain 1.8 metres (6 feet) in length and weigh more than 100 kg (220 pounds); females are usually smaller. Round black ears and black eye patches stand out against a white face and neck. Black limbs, tail, legs, and shoulders contrast with the white torso.

food: As much as 90–98 percent of the panda’s diet consists of the leaves, shoots, and stems of bamboo, a large grass available year-round in much of China’s forested regions. Despite adaptations in the forepaws, teeth, and jaws for bamboo consumption, the giant panda has retained the digestive system of its carnivore ancestry and is therefore unable to digest cellulose, a main constituent of bamboo. The species cannot naturally survive outside bamboo forests, though in captivity they have been maintained on cereals, milk, and garden fruits and vegetables.

habitat: Human destruction of its forest habitat, combined with poaching, has restricted the species to remote fragments of mountain habitat along the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan (Szechwan), Shaanxi (Shensi), and Gansu (Kansu). The total area of these habitats is about 13,000 square km (5,000 square miles), and in recent times periodic mass flowering and die-offs of bamboo have brought starvation for some populations.

















(via Encyclopedia Britannica Online)

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