Mom Told Me: Why Do Giant Pandas Like to Eat Bamboo? Do You Know?

Look at me, isn't it beautiful?

At the zoo, children really love to see giant pandas. Every time they see the plump body of a giant panda walking slowly with a slight outward angle, and with a cute and endearing appearance, it makes people burst out laughing.

Besides having a cute appearance, giant pandas have many beautiful names, such as 'living fossil' and 'national treasure of China', they are also a national first-class protected animal!

'Such a cute baby, why don't you feed it properly, why just give it bamboo?' Xiao Ming puzzled.

Um, this bamboo tastes good.

'Mommy, Mommy, giant pandas are national treasures, why do they only eat bamboo?' Xiao Ming couldn't understand.

Mom listened with a slight smile and replied, 'It's not that we don't give it good food, bamboo is the best food for giant pandas!'

Xiao Ming looked puzzled at his mom.

Mom continued, 'You don't know that, actually, giant pandas' ancestors were originally carnivorous. However, a long, long time ago, the Earth experienced climate changes due to the ice age, and most giant pandas were extinct. Only a few remained in our Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. Those regions besides growing a large number of bamboo, it was difficult to have prey for giant pandas to hunt. Giant pandas had to gradually change their diet in order to survive, thus from originally eating meat, after evolution they mainly eat bamboo.'

'Oh, that's why!' Xiao Ming replied.

Stacking logs, huh? It's alright.

Mom continued, 'Giant pandas love to eat cold bamboo shoots, ink bamboo, and water bamboo, especially bamboo shoots. To obtain the necessary nutrients, the only way is to eat and poop quickly, eating and pooping as quickly as possible. A 100-kilogram adult giant panda spends more than 10 hours every spring, eating nearly 20 kilograms of bamboo leaves and bamboo stems, or 40 kilograms of fresh bamboo shoots, while excreting more than 10 kilograms of feces, to maintain metabolic balance.'

'Poor giant pandas, they only eat and poop!' Xiao Ming said.

'Of course!' Mom continued, 'Because the bamboo eaten by giant pandas has a low nutritional composition, it is difficult to store a lot of energy. In order to conserve energy, giant pandas like to walk in flat places to avoid climbing hills in order to control energy consumption. Giant pandas eat bamboo and some weeds as well, but they eat a very small amount. In addition, giant pandas sometimes indulge and catch small animals like bamboo rats to satisfy their carnivorous nature. Natural conditions limit the amount of meat that wild giant pandas can eat, most of the time they rely on bamboo to sustain their lives, becoming a life of strict rules and bamboo – born to bamboo.'

Let me take a look, what's below?

After listening to his mom's detailed introduction, Xiao Ming finally understood many things about giant pandas.

Please listen to the related audio:Why do giant pandas like to eat bamboo?