Giant panda years ago) from the main ursine stock; since it is the most basal member of the group, it is equidistant from all other extant ursids. The giant panda has been referred to as a living fossil. Despite the shared name, habitat type, and diet, as well as a unique enlarged bone called the "pseudo thumb" (which helps them grip the bamboo shoots they eat) the giant panda and red panda are only distantly related. The word "panda" was borrowed into English from French, but no conclusive explanation of the origin of the French word "panda" has been found. The closest
Xin Xin (giant panda) Zoo hours. Xin Xin is artificially inseminated annually with sperm from Chinese panda Ling-Ling as part of a continuing effort to breed pandas in Mexico. Mexico's Chapultepec Zoo has had one of the most successful panda-breeding programs outside of China, with a total of eight giant pandas conceived in the zoo since the first pandas arrived in Mexico in 1975. This has been attributed by some to the Zoo's 7300 ft. altitude, similar to the pandas' native habitat in Sichuan, China. Xin Xin is also the name of a panda which was born in China on 6 August 2005. Xin