The giant panda has a striking black and white coat. It has black fur on its ears, eye patches, muzzle, shoulders and back, and four legs. The rest of the animal's coat is white.

Adults are around 1.6 m – 1.8 m tall, weighing about 70-150 kilos, and have a round body shape. Males are usually larger than females. One physiological trait unique to the giant panda that's not seen in the cat family or other bears is the presence of a pseudo-thumb on each forepaw in addition to five fingers; this false thumb is actually a modified wrist bone, which helps it to grasp objects, feeding and climbing trees. The giant panda can actually hold bamboo stalks while eating.

The giant panda has a very large and strong bone structure, twice the density of similar animals, and especially massive in the head. Its powerful jaws and a total of 42 teeth including short and flat canine teeth, and enlarged and very broad premolars and molars are specifically designed to crush tough food sources such as the bamboo.

Forepaw of the Giant Panda Five digits and a false thumb modified from sesamoid bone helps it to dexterously grasp food. There is a mat of hair between the paw pads.	Hind Paw of the Giant Panda Five digits just like the forepaw but minus the false thumb. Also hair growth between the paw pads.

Physiological Appearances of the Giant Panda

• Four strong and powerful limbs:
  • Hind limbs: although the plantigrade feet make the giant panda walk with a wobbling rolling gait, but in fact are extremely convenient for the animal to push stalks out of the way walking through bamboo forests.
  • Forelimbs: complete range of motions such as extension, flexion, internal rotation, abduction, and wide set of movements. Moreover, giant panda's unique forepaws have an enlarged wrist bone that they can flex like a thumb, which allows them to direct bamboo stalks to their mouth dexterously.
  • The mat of hair growth between paw pads allows the giant panda to move freely on snow, a characteristic unique to bears living in low temperature areas.
• The round body shape helps the giant panda adapt to its staple diet of bamboo and natural habitat of chilly wetness.
• Endemic to a naturally cold and wet surrounding, the giant pandas' tiny black ears are more than cute in appearance, but are functioned to reduce heat loss.
• Woolly black and white coat:
  • Excellent camouflage in the snow, and insolates the giant panda from cold and wetness.
  • The thick and short fur covered in oil helps the giant panda to stay warm and dry.
  • Most importantly the striking color pattern serves as a clear visual signal, a message to other pandas to stay away or keep a distance to avoid a direct confrontation.