Plural of panda; large, black-and-white bears from China that eat mainly bamboo and are symbols of wildlife conservation.
From Nepali 'poonya' or 'ponya' (bamboo eater), adapted into English in the 1800s when these animals were first introduced to Western science. Also the name of a popular Python programming library.
Giant pandas are so rare they're considered 'living fossils'—their evolutionary lineage goes back millions of years, and they have a pseudo-thumb (extra wrist bone) for gripping bamboo, making them one of evolution's oddest designs!
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