Sichuan Mountains, China

This scene is an original illustration set in Sichuan Mountains, China. It lies in the subtropics, where the climate is monsoon-influenced humid subtropical — dry winters.

A giant panda sits upright hugging a bamboo stem and eating, centred in a small clearing. Dense arrow-bamboo stems fill the scene in receding layers. The sun is completely hidden and the light is dim, even and directionless, the far slopes fading into flat pale mist.

Why does a bear eat almost nothing but bamboo?

This is a bear with a carnivore's gut eating almost nothing but bamboo, which is why it must eat for most of the day and grips stems with an enlarged wrist bone working as a false thumb. Bamboo at this density needs high year-round humidity without hard frost, which happens on mid-elevation slopes inside a permanent cloud belt.

Terpano is a free daily geography puzzle. You study one original illustration, place a pin on a borderless terrain map, and see how close you were. There is no account and no sign-up; progress stays in your own browser. It plays in 11 languages.