Panda bears eat tons of bamboo. In fact, they spend up to 14 hours per day eating about 27 pounds of the plant material. But new research examining the genetics of panda waste shows that pandas are not very good at being vegetarian, or digesting bamboo.
The study, published in mBio, found that pandas lack the bacteria necessary to break cellulose in plants, and can digest only about 17 percent of what they eat.
Vicki Croke, who writes “The Wild Life” blog and is also the author of “The Lady and the Panda,” joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to discuss the study and why pandas are better suited to eat meat than plants.
Guest
- Vicki Croke, host of WBUR’s “The Wild Life” blog and author of “The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China’s Most Exotic Animal.” She tweets @TheWildLifeWBUR.
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