Panda What?!

I have to come clean when it comes to pandas, they are so damn cute and just makes you want to hug them. Even though pandas are becoming endangered animals, there are things that are unique to these creatures. For instance, they have problems when it comes to mating as they are solitary. Even though 80 percent of their diet comes from bamboos,they are still considered by technical decision as carnivores (members of Order Carnivora). A fully developed panda consumes an average of 25 pounds of fibrous plants each day. As one questions comes into mind, how do pandas digest their food without having those special enzymes that herbivores have in common? Fuwen Wei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues thought that Pandas might be getting help from gut microbes. By collecting samples from feces in various types of pandas in China, they studied genes of bacteria that are within those samples and what types of bacteria are likely to be in the pandas' gut. As they look for more clues, they found out that they are 85 different species of bacteria in the pandas' gut, but one them intrigues Wei's team and that is the species in the genus Clostridium.

As we all know, species within the genus Clostridium are quite known to cause human diseases. Some are free-living bacteria, and some are also important pathogens. A well known species of Clostridium is Clostridium Tetani which causes Tetanus. One thing that is quite compelling about this genus Clostridium is that they play an essential role of breaking down cellulose for these pandas. This is a groundbreaking discovery by Wei's team on the search within the pandas' gut. As pandas don't have the special enzymes needed to break down cellulose from eating plants, these species of Clostridium sure did one hell of a job to break down those cellulose and help pandas digest their food. They also have few adaptations in their bamboo diet: they have pseudo thumbs that helps them get a grip of branches, and strong teeth and jaws which help them chew quite better. Even though most of the cellulose simply passes through their digestive system as a study in 1982 founds out that 92 percent of the cellulose consumed ended up in the feces, they still eat enough calories for a day and live a simple life.

I found this information is mind blowing. I have always thought pandas are actually herbivores but with this information I have found, I was wrong the whole time. One thing that comes through my mind, is that where does the other 20 percent of their diet come from? Did it come from humans giving away foods or do they rarely eat meat as well? Also, when and why did they switch and start eating bamboo? And are captive pandas able to survive on a more varied diet or do they really have to eat just bamboo? Lots of question needed to be answered, yet for now, no one could tell. Work Cited: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-a-carnivore-survives-on-bamboo-111994217/?no-ist=