Celebrate Earth Day this April 21st with Disneynature Born In China.
Disneynature Born In China takes you into the wilds of China to experience intimate moments with three animal families. Narrated by John Krasinski, you’ll spend time with an adorable doting panda bear mother who’s guiding her exploring, growing cub (China is the only place giant pandas live in the wild); a 2-year-old golden snub-nosed monkey who feels displaced by his baby sister (what toddler with a baby sister doesn’t feel that way!); and a snow leopard mother who faces the very real fears of raising her two cubs with the dangers of the wild.
12 Facts about Giant Pandas
We love walking away from a film having learned something new. Here are some fun facts about pandas.
- Giant pandas—often referred to as just pandas—live in central China in sections of the Sichuan, Shaannxi, and Gansu provinces at elevations ranging from 5,000–10,000 feet. The temperate forests they live in produce 30—40 inches of precipitation each year—which is good for bamboo.
- Pandas eat up to 40 pounds of bamboo every day. They have a pseudothumb—or modified wrist bone—to help grip the bamboo. They also occasionally eat meat.
- Giant pandas are black and white. One theory is that the distinct coloring helps them spot each other when it comes to mating. Another is that the coloring serves as camouflage—particularly when the animal is up in trees.
- Giant pandas are bears—but they don’t hibernate. They do, however, spend a lot of time resting and sleeping—when they’re not eating.
- Giant pandas stand between 5’2” and 6’2”. Males weigh 190–275 pounds, while females weigh 155–220 pounds.
- Pandas live about 14–20 years in the wild.
- The gestation period for pandas ranges from 3–5 months. The average female produces 5–8 cubs in her lifetime. She can start reproducing at 4–5 years old.
- Cubs weigh 3–5 ounces at birth—about the size of a stick of butter. Mom is 900 times bigger. Cubs are born pink, hairless and blind. They don’t venture far from mom till they’re about 6 months old—though they nurse till they’re 8–9 months old.
- Pandas leave their mothers for good at about age 3.
- Neighbors to the panda include dwarf blue sheep, multi-colored pheasants, crested ibis, golden snub-nosed monkeys, and goat-antelopes. Predators of young pandas include jackals, leopards, and yellow-throated marten.
- Pandas live a solitary lifestyle, but they do communicate with each other with sounds and scent. They make goat-like cries and squeaks. To signal nearby giant pandas, they’ll rub away substance on trees that are secreted from scent glands at the base of their tails.
- Giant pandas will scratch tree bark with their massive claws as a visual sign of where they’ve been—it’s like they’re writing a quick note to their friends.
Born In China is the seventh Disneynature release, the first new Disney-branded film label from The Walt Disney Studios in more than 60 years. The label was launched in April 2008 to bring the world’s top nature filmmakers together to capture a variety of wildlife subjects and stories. As a parent, I love the Disneynature series for the education component. When you watch a Disneynature film, you get entertainment and education.
When you see Disneynature’s Born in China during its opening week (April 21–27, 2017) your ticket purchase will benefit the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Based on opening-week attendance, Disneynature—via the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund—will make a contribution to the WWF to help protect wild pandas and snow leopards in China. You can see a movie, learn something about several elusive and endangered species, and make a positive impact with your ticket purchase.
Did you know that Walt Disney was a pioneer in wildlife documentary filmmaking? He produced 13 True-Life Adventure motion pictures between 1948 and 1960, including Seal Island (1948), Beaver Valley (1950), The Living Desert (1953), and Jungle Cat (1958), earning eight Academy Awards® between them.
About Born In China
Disneynature’s new True Life Adventure film Born In China takes an epic journey into the wilds of China where few people have ever ventured. Following the stories of three animal families, the film transports audiences to some of the most extreme environments on Earth to witness some of the most intimate moments ever captured in a nature film. A doting panda bear mother guides her growing baby as she begins to explore and seek independence. A 2-year-old golden monkey who feels displaced by his new baby sister joins up with a group of free-spirited outcasts. And a mother snow leopard—an elusive animal rarely caught on camera—faces the very real drama of raising her two cubs in one of the harshest and most unforgiving environments on the planet. Featuring stunning, never-before-seen imagery, the film navigates China’s vast terrain—from the frigid mountains to the heart of the bamboo forest—on the wings of red-crowned cranes, seamlessly tying the extraordinary tales together. Opening in U.S. theaters on Earth Day 2017, Born in China is directed by accomplished Chinese filmmaker Lu Chuan, and produced by Disney’s Roy Conli and renowned nature filmmakers Brian Leith and Phil Chapman.
About Disneynature
Disneynature was launched in April 2008. Its mission is to bring the world’s top nature filmmakers together to share a wide variety of wildlife stories on the big screen in order to engage, inspire and educate theatrical audiences everywhere. Walt Disney was a pioneer in wildlife filmmaking, producing 13 True-Life Adventure motion pictures between 1948 and 1960, which earned eight Academy Awards®. The first six Disneynature films, Earth, Oceans, African Cats, Chimpanzee, Bears, and Monkey Kingdom are six of the top seven highest overall grossing feature-length nature films to date, with Chimpanzee garnering a record-breaking opening weekend for the genre. Disneynature’s commitment to conservation is a key pillar of the label and the films empower the audience to help make a difference. Through donations tied to opening-week attendance for all six films, Disneynature, through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, has contributed to a host of conservation initiatives. Efforts include planting three million trees in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, established 40,000 acres of marine protected area in The Bahamas, protected 65,000 acres of savanna in Kenya, protected nearly 130,000 acres of wild chimpanzee habitat, cared for chimpanzees and educated 60,000 school children about chimpanzee conservation in the Congo. Additionally, efforts have funded research and restoration grants in U.S. National Parks, supporting conservation projects spanning 400,000 acres of parkland and protecting 75 species of animals and plants, and helped protect monkeys and other endangered species in their natural habitats across Indonesia, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka.
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