Blog: A Little Electricity

There is no conclusive source for the origin of the Anglicized name "panda." Until 1901, the Giant Panda was known as "mottled bear" or "parti-coloured bear. Since the earliest collection of Chinese writings, the Chinese language has given the bear 20 different names of which the ones in use today "large bear cat," or " bear cat. " The name may have been inspired by the Giant Panda's eyes which have pupils that are cat-like vertical slits unlike other bear species with round pupils. Colloquially, locals from different provinces use the previously more physiologically accurate names such as "spotted bear" [...]

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