What is a group of pandas called? It's actually a bit of an embarrassment.
Baby pandas, born the size of a stick of butter, grow to become two to three hundred pounds; yet they remain proficient tree climbers that consume 26 to 84 pounds of bamboo daily, according to worldwildlife.org. With only under 2,000 left in the wild, the four-foot-tall mammals are known for eating bamboo and relaxing handstands, says National Geographic.
The giant pandas, found in Chinese regions like Chengdu, are loved for their “lazy” and “clumsy” lifestyle that, wildexplained.com says, likely earned them their unique term for a group of pandas.
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What is a group of pandas called?
A group of pandas is called an embarrassment, wildexplained.com says. The site goes on to explain that there is very little scientific backing or origin of this name as it may have started and been popularized online.
The name comes from the hilariously clumsy movements and lifestyles of pandas. Pandas also have had a dwindling population, in part due to their “lazy” mating process, as wildexplained.com says. Finally, they must eat a huge amount of bamboo every day to gain enough nutritional value, all of which contributes to their reputation for being lazy, says wildexplained.com.
A group of pandas is also called a cupboard of pandas or a bamboo of pandas, according to wildexplained.com.
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What are other animal group names?
A group of zebras is known as a zeal of zebras, dictionary.com says.
A group of hippopotamuses is called a bloat of hippopotamuses, fitting due to their huge size, according to dictionary.com.
Birdfact.com says a group of geese can have different names depending on the situation. On the ground, they are a gaggle of geese; yet, they may be called a team or a wedge in flight. A general term for a group of geese is a flock.
A group of bunnies or rabbits is called a fluffle, colony or herd, as listed on rabbit.org.
Almanac.com explains that a group of pigs is called a drift or a drove, young pigs are a litter, hogs are a passel or a team, a group of swine is a sounder and a group of boars are a singular.
Are pandas endangered?
According to worldwildlife.org, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) moved pandas from “endangered” to “vulnerable” in September 2016, due to a population growth of 17% over the past decade.
While this is positive improvement for the panda population, there are still only “1,864 left in the wild,” says the CEO of WWF-China, Lo Sze Ping.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is a group of pandas called? The embarrassing reality
