Did Noah have to have two Pandas?

Answer 1

Possibly but not necessarily. The Bible account uses the word "kind" to describe which animals were taken. This almost certainly does not mean the species as we know it today. Selection pressures in the different post-flood environments led to different species adapted to these new environments arising due to natural selection. This is how creation scientists explain how only around 8,000 or so creatures were required to be fitted onto the ark.

It is also worth noting that each of these "kinds" probably carried a wider genetic diversity than many of the more specialised species do today. This genetic diversity allowed the various species to arise -each with a reduced genetic variability, being more specialised.

In relation to a number of diverse groups of creatures on the planet today such as dogs -including jackals and wolves, there is still the ability to produce fertile offspring. This also includes the sheep/goat group and a number of others. This may apply to the "bear""group, but probably hasn't been tested. In the case of the Panda -they would appear to have lost the ability to interbreed with others (certainly in the wild) and indeed have enough trouble to breed among their own species. But, this does not mean or imply that they existed on the ark as they exist today -possibly, even probably there was "bear kind" aboard.