There are two varieties of panda, but they are very different from each other. The lesser panda is small and raccoon-like with long, reddish-brown fur and a long, ringed tail. Its home is in the Himalaya Mountains near India. The more interesting panda looks like a big stuffed toy and seems like a cross between a bear and a raccoon. This one is the giant or great panda. It also lives in the high Himalayas along the border of China and Tibet.
The giant panda has a round, white head with jet-black ears and nose and black circles around its eyes that look like they’ve been painted on. It looks cuddly and is loved by people everywhere. When fully grown it is almost five feet long and two feet high at the shoulder - about the size of a small bear with just a stump of a tail. The cubs are especially cute and lovable, and they are carefully watched by their mothers.
About 20 kinds of bamboo can serve as food for them, but they are choosy and prefer just five of them. They seem to know which parts of these plants have the most food value. At certain seasons they eat just the leaves and stalks and at other seasons only the plant stems. Having big appetites, they munch on about 100 pounds of bamboo every day. The Creator has given them big, strong jaws and huge molar teeth especially adapted for this kind of food.
Living in such a small area in this remote part of the world, they usually hide when people approach, so they are not seen in the wild very often. The Chinese people love them and are concerned because they may become extinct. The forests in that region are being thinned out by people moving into them, and plant diseases are killing many of the trees.
In 1972 the Chinese wanted to send a complimentary gift to the President of the United States. They selected a pair of these animals and shipped them to the Washington, D.C. zoo. To help preserve these lovable animals, arrangements were made to place more of them in zoos in other cities as well, and this has helped to multiply their numbers.
Although most people did not know about the great panda for many years, it has always been under the watchful care of its Creator, as the opening verse of this article tells us. Another Bible verse says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest [displayed] in His sight” (Hebrews 4:1313Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13)).
If God thinks about and cares for animals in far-off remote mountains, just think how much more He must care for you. This care is shown by His great love to all people in sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to “give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:2828Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)). All who come to Him as sinners, sorry for their sins, and accept Him as their Saviour become His very own forever. If you have not done this as yet, He invites you to come to Him today.
SEPTEMBER 21, 1997
ML-09/21/1997