Friday, April 07, 2006

Furry and Ferocious

I took these pics of the bashful panda cub at the Woodley Park Zoo. It looks so cute, cuddly and utterly harmless. But appearances are deceptive when in comes to pandas. Apparently they are quite vicious when provoked and have powerful paws and a mean bite. This is what the Wikipedia has to say:

"The Giant Panda has long been a favourite of the public, at least partly on account of the fact that the species has an appealing baby-like cuteness that makes it seem to resemble a living teddy bear. The fact that it is usually depicted reclining peacefully eating bamboo, as opposed to hunting, also adds to its image of innocence. Though the Giant Panda is often assumed docile because of their cuteness, they have been known to attack humans, usually assumed to be out of irritation rather than predatory behavior." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Panda)

The same goes for koala bears.....



1 comment:

Ms Ajaira said...

Warning: Pandas are not meant to be hugged

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5364058.stm