Bamboo bear vs Clinton'S Wood Fern

Ailuropoda melanoleuca compared with Dryopteris clintoniana

Key Differences

Bamboo bear is Vulnerable while Clinton'S Wood Fern is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bamboo bear	Clinton'S Wood Fern
Kingdom	Animalia (животные)	Plantae (растения)
Phylum	Chordata (хордовые)	Tracheophyta
Class	Mammalia (млекопитающие)	Polypodiopsida (папоротниковые)
Order	Carnivora (хищные)	Polypodiales (многоножковые)
Family	Ursidae (Bears)	Dryopteridaceae
Genus	Ailuropoda (Giant Pandas)	Dryopteris
Species	Ailuropoda melanoleuca	Dryopteris clintoniana

Conservation Status

Bamboo bear

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~1.9K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Clinton'S Wood Fern

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bamboo bear	Clinton'S Wood Fern
Diet	Herbivore	—
Average Lifespan	20 years	—
Average Length	1.5 m	—
Average Weight	100.0 kg	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bamboo bear

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate coniferous forests, and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, among 7 distinct biome types spanning the Indomalayan and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Found in China. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Clinton'S Wood Fern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Distributed across Canada and United States.

Bamboo bear

Iconic black-and-white bear of the mountain bamboo forests of central China, giant pandas can weigh up to 125 kg and spend up to 14 hours daily consuming bamboo, which comprises 99% of their diet despite belonging to the order Carnivora. Solitary and elusive, they have a pseudo-thumb for gripping bamboo stems. Downgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016 following successful conservation and breeding programs.

Clinton'S Wood Fern

Clinton's Wood Fern, Dryopteris clintoniana, is a large, robust fern in the family Dryopteridaceae native to eastern North America, ranging from Nova Scotia and New England south through the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Lakes region. It inhabits rich, moist, shaded forests including floodplain woodland, mesic slopes, and forested wetland margins, growing in soils with abundant leaf litter and high organic matter content. Clinton's Wood Fern is a tetraploid hybrid fern, arising from crosses between Dryopteris cristata (Crested Wood Fern) and Dryopteris goldiana (Goldie's Fern), and inherits intermediate characteristics from both parents. The fronds are large, once-pinnate to pinnate-pinnatifid, with broad, dark green pinnae that have rounded, finely toothed lobes. Like many hybrid ferns, it is fertile and reproduces apogamously. The species is named for DeWitt Clinton, as is Clinton's Bulrush, reflecting his early contributions to American natural history. Clinton's Wood Fern is considered relatively rare within its range, partly because it requires the specific combination of parental species in suitable habitat. Threats include forest clearance, invasive species, and changes in forest hydrology. It is listed as a species of conservation concern in several northeastern states.