There is little resemblance between the tail of the panda and that of the bear. When it is young, a panda has a long tail. This proves that the panda has evolved from the ancient long tailed carnivores. When it grows up, the tail shortens to about 10-15cm. At the base of the tail there is a bald patch. In it lies a gland, called the anus gland of zoology. It secretes a foul smelling substance. When pandas are in heat, this substance is used to attract a mate. Instead of com-municating by vocal means they use their tails which work like a brush. With their tail they mark the boundaries of their territory as well as providing information for other pandas.

The size of a new born giant pandas is very small. They are similar in size to the babies of red pandas, which only weigh 90-131g (the heaviest, being more than 170g). The average weight of baby giant pandas is about 100g, only 1/900 of the mother's weight. In contrast, a newly-born black bear constitutes 1/200-1/300 of its mother's weight. When pandas are born, both eyes are closed firmly and the whole body is a reddish colour with sparsely distributed white birth hairs about 0.5cm long. The hair on the legs and tail is shorter, only about 0.2cm. The tail is long, about 1/3 of the body length. The head is flatter and rounder than its parents. Small as it is, the newly-born cub's cries are loud for its small size. Sometimes its cries sound like that of a human baby, and sometimes like a little dog. Two months later, these strange human and dog like cries can no longer be heard. A week old cub begins to grow a light black hair around the eye circles and on its shoulders. Days later black hair appears on the hindlegs and over the ears. The black hair sur-rounding the eye circles grows into a round shape with a diameter about 0.1cm. Black hairs appear on the left and right sides of the mouth at15 days. After about 20 days, the original black hair becomes denser. On the breast there is clear evidence of black hair, and the hair about the eyes continues to spread, changing from a circular to a sloping square shape. At this point, black hair covers the cub's neck and paws. Nearly 25 days pass before the neck and breast are fully covered with black hair. At the same time the eye rings continue to enlarge while white hair begins to grow. At 50 days, the breast mild line and the hair below the belly remains reddish brown. The remaining hair is black with a mixture of browns especially on the tail, which is covered with a growth of black hair.

Usually, at the age of three months, the cub's teeth begin to show. When it is one year old, it already has four dentes, a pair of incisors, six dentes molares,for a total of 24 teeth.

Newly-born padas are very weak, especially in the legs. They can not stand on their own. Most of their time is spent sleeping and nursing. They crawl occasionally but only to reach their mothers. A little later they are able to move left and right and take a step or two, but they remains quite clumsily until about two and a half months old when their hindlegs can support their body. In spite of the lack of stability in the hindlegs, baby pandas can cover a distance of about 1 meter at a 3 months of age. Baby pandas are very playful and enjoy rolling on the ground and climbing on their mother's back as well as other activities. At 4--5 months, panda cubs develop some sort of coordination with their paws while playing among bamboo, but do not begin to eat bamboo until they are six months old. Panda cubs continue to nurse until they are about one and a half years old. If they are raised in a zoo, they will be learned at this age.At first, the weight of the cubs increase slowly. In the spring time, at six months old, their growth rate begins to quicken. On average in January they weighs about 1.3-1.5 kilos;

In February      3.4-3.5
    March      5.7
    April      7.5-8.6
    May      10.6-10.8
    June      12-13.2
    July      15-17
    August      18.5-20.3
    September      23.1-24.8
    October      25.6-29.3
    November      30.3-34.3

And when December arrives, the average weight is 35.3-37.5 kilos. Generally speaking, the male cubs weight increases faster than the female cubs. Cubs mainly depends upon smell sound and touch because its sense of sight is nonexistent at this time. The new-borns' eyes remain firmly closed. After a month or so, it can feel light without opening the eyes. Some indications of the eyes' winking appear. The process of their eye opening is very interesting. Only one eye opens first, then it is followed by the other one. The eyes are very weak and not quick to respond to their surroundings. Five months later they became a bit stronger.