Your friend is right. it is taiwan mainland difference. in taiwan people always call panda ( or gaint panda) 猫熊。literally, this chinese word means an animal is a bear which looks like cat, and i think 猫熊 this word is more reasonable. but most people in mainland get used to call it 大熊猫.（小熊猫 is another anima）i think it is kinda like unicorn in english. i believe at first it was unihorn, but some people made it wrong, and then people get used to unicorn. maybe it is the same phenomenon in chinese. my suggestion is if you translate panda to taiwanese you can use 猫熊，and to people in mainland you can use 大熊猫，and both of them are correct.

I'm sorry, I published the wrong place, there should be reviews Panda you ask, you know panda nature? It is a meat eater, bamboo is not its favorite, is not it really slow the speed of its hearing, it is in the mountains, the flexibility in the woods, you name it to dismantle, "Bear "+"cat "is the real " Panda " However, the ordinary day of it, really gentle and lovely

你提问熊猫，那么你知道熊猫的本性吗？

汉语口述中“熊猫”就是指“大熊猫”，还有一种动物叫“小熊猫”，都是书籍上的学名，以大小作区分，是不同的两种动物，同时，“熊猫”=“猫熊”叫法

First of all, 猫熊 actually is the right name , because panda is kinda bear. but the other name is more well known . And in mainland, still have a lot of province would call that 猫熊, this name is not only belongs to taiwan. okay Second, panda is the official name of 熊猫，giant panda means a panda is much more bigger than other pandas. Third ,小熊猫 is normally called red panda , not small panda.