Strange Bears, Part 1

To celebrate Leap Day, I'll be posting four parts in a series about strange bears. I won't explain any more than that, because there's far too much in that one sentence that doesn't make any sense.

Pandas


There are a lot of confusing things about pandas. One, they're actually called "Giant Pandas," but since there is no other variety of panda, the term "giant" is arbitrary. Also, though the panda is called a bear, it bears much more resemblance to the racoon, and it is technically part of the pachyderm family with the elephant and the hippopotamus.

A common Chinese myth says that pandas were originally a rogue band of polar bears who had taken command of a Spanish pirate ship in the mid-1300s. The ship crashed on the Chinese mainland, and the polar bears, worried they wouldn't fit in with the native people, painted their eyes and ears black. The Chinese welcomed them as kinsmen, and the polar bears proceeded to destroy and plunder their cities. They retreated to mountainous inland China to enjoy their wealth, and the black spots of their fur were passed down to all generations.

The panda is one of two mammals that can fly. The other is the bat.