Identifying Giant Pandas

Hello and welcome back to my blog. This post is for the first Action Project of the STEAM class Population. For this first unit we learned about taxonomy which is a method used to classify and organize animals into categories. We also learned Set Theory or a mathematical language used to describe sets. In this unit we also dissected a worm which was slightly different than the worm dissection I did in 7th grade. As for probably all of the Action Projects this term learning is still virtual and we are at home do to the covid pandemic. Everyone in the class was mailed a worm dissection kit and we learned about the insides of the worm and all of their processes over two days. Normally, if we were not learning from home we would have a Field Experience to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. There we would find an animal that we would like to use for the action project and take a picture of it. For this AP I have chosen the giant panda as my animal. It was important to take or find a picture of the panda because it is required that we make a collage from that image. In addition to the mosaic we had to identify the taxonomy of our animal and be able to show it from the image. I hope you enjoy. 

The Panda’s Story

A new giant panda is born in late summer. The newborn is very small and blind. Their skin is pink and the cub is helpless. The mother will stay with her cub for several days. After around one month, the cub will begin to develop soft, gray fur. This fur eventually changes to the black and white pattern. At three months, the panda cub will begin to crawl and start adjusting to their primary diet of bamboo at six months. The young cub can also move around better now and become more familiar with their habitat in the high mountain forests of Southwest China. The panda is still with their mother who goes about her normal lifestyle. When the cub reaches one year old, it weighs around one hundred pounds. From about one and a half to two years old, the giant panda becomes more independent and leaves its mother. The giant panda continues to grow and reaches maturity. The females become mature at four years and the males at six. After mating the female panda leaves to take care of her soon to be newborn. The giant panda carries the developing cub for three to five months. After the cub's birth, the mother will watch over and protect her cub. The mother can mate and raise more young until she becomes eighteen years old. The normal lifespan of a giant panda is around 20 years in the wild.

This is the taxonomy for the giant panda. The mosaic that I made below can show some of what is identified in the taxonomy. 

Kingdom: Animalia - can move around and climb

Phylum: Chordata - has a spinal cord and a post-anal-tail

Class: Mammalia - has fur

Order: Herbivorous - primary diet of plants and a large brain encased in thick skull

Family: Ursidae - is a bear, round ears, short tail, big head

Genus: Ailuropoda - strong teeth

Species: Ailuropoda melanoleuca - giant panda 

To easily show each part of the taxonomy I created a gif from the original image.

commons.wikimedia.org

In addition to listing taxonomy for my animal, we were paired up with a couple other classmates to create a shared Venn diagram of each of our animals. The other animals that I was with in my group were the golden snub-nosed monkey and the highland cattle. Since this is a three person Venn diagram there are the differences, similarities for all, and the similarities for two of us in every combination. These combinations are panda with cattle, panda with monkey, and cattle with monkey.

Below are some mathematical statements that can describe the taxonomy of Pandas and other animals alike using Set Theory. Underneath each of the mathematical statements is the English translation to it.

Set Theory Key: U (universal set) = this set has every element in it, ∈ (epsilon) = in the set of,   { } (set brackets) = all elements of that set

U = {highland cattle, golden snub-nosed monkey, giant panda}

Translation: The universal set contains these three animals.

pandas ∈ Bears

Translation: The giant panda is an element in the set of bears.

Herbivores = {highland cattle, golden snub-nosed monkey, giant panda}

pandas ∈ herbivores 

Translation: The giant panda is an element in the set of herbivores.

China habitat = {golden snub-nosed monkey, giant panda}

pandas ∈ China habitat

Translation: The giant panda is an element in the set of animals that have a China habitat.

Ailuropoda melanoleuca = {giant panda}

Translation: The giant panda is the only element in the set of Ailuropoda melanoleuca (scientific name for the giant panda). 

That marks the end of the first AP of the year for STEAM, I hope you enjoyed reading it and liked the mosaic. While working on the collage I thought that it would take me a very long time but it actually didn't. I think I did a nice job taking it from the original image. Creating the Set Theory statements was fun as well as making the Venn diagram with my classmates. Although we talked a bit in class about each of our animals we didn't discuss it too much so making this was a nice way to learn about them. This AP was a nice start for the term and I really appreciate the support I received from my teacher. If this blog post helps you learn more about the panda that is great and I hope that you read the future posts or even other ones I have created.

Other Blog Posts from Group:

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey - https://khgcelabschool.blogspot.com/2020/10/welcome-to-my-blog-this-is-my-first.html

Highland Cattle - https://madgcelabschool.blogspot.com/2020/10/highland-cattle-are-pretty-cool.html