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Read this
article on Pandas from Time For Kids. If you are
reading to get information on pandas, as endangered animals, decide
which information is
important
and which is
unimportant
or of
less importance.
Welcome Pandas!
Tennessee's Memphis Zoo got two special guests this April: a pair of
giant pandas from China. They are only the fourth pair of pandas to
be on exhibit in a U.S. zoo. Last Friday, visitors to the zoo got to
see Le Le (Luh Luh) and Ya Ya for the first time.
Giant
pandas are endangered. There are fewer than 1,000 in the world! The
Memphis Zoo will pay China $1 million a year to keep the bears for
10 years.
China
plans to use the money for panda research. Scientists in Memphis
will also study the bears. Researchers want to understand why pandas
eat mostly bamboo. The plant has little nutritional value.
American researchers will work with officials in China to restore
the panda's habitat. Humans have destroyed large forests where
bamboo grows and the bears live.
It Looks
Like Home
The
pandas' home in Memphis cost $16 million. It took more than two
years to build. The outdoor area has hot and cold rocks. Ya Ya loves
the rocks! "Ya Ya is a good climber," says zookeeper Janet Cooper.
When
the weather gets hot, the pandas can stay in an air-conditioned
indoor area. Its walls are painted to look like China's mountains
and forests.
The
pandas will get more than 600 visitors each hour. "People love
pandas because they are cute," says Cooper. "We hope kids will learn
the importance of conservation and understand that even animals that
aren't cute need help too."
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Some details are
important
to the topic.
