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There is often public confusion about the relationship between the two identified species of pandas — but it only makes sense when you consider that these animals are only distantly related, displaying dramatic differences in everything from physiology to habitat to behavior. The name panda is derived from the Nepalese word for “bamboo eater”, and the link between these animals is almost completely broken down according to diet and feeding habits.
Despite being the lesser known of the two, the facts show red pandas earned the name ten years before the big panda in 1825. It’s an example of how challenging it was to trace evolutionary family trees before the advent of DNA testing, but it’s also proof of how convergent evolution can cause different species to share the same highly specialized – and highly unusual – behavior develop independently of each other. Here’s everything you could want to know about how giant pandas and red pandas eat.
What do pandas eat?
One way to better understand how natural selection affects diet is to identify animals as generalists or specialists. Generalists can live on a variety of food sources – and this behavior has made omnivores possible coyotes to find suitable ecosystems spanning most of the United States and herbivore elephants serve as African gardeners prune vegetation along migratory routes that can stretch for 60 miles. Specialists like flamingos and koalas — which feed mainly on shrimp and eucalyptus leaves, respectively – often manage to thrive by finding a food source that is readily available but has little competitive demand. But the practicalities behind specialization also make them particularly vulnerable to habitat destruction.
This is the case with red pandas and giant pandas, which have two of the most specialized and bizarre diets in the world. The latter consists of a diet consisting of 99% bamboo, while the former has a slightly more varied diet consisting of between 85 and 95% bamboo. If that seems like a boring diet, there’s at least some comfort in the fact that there’s a little variety in it. About 40 bamboo species are found in the overlapping habitats of red and giant pandas. Giant pandas are known to selectively feed on over 20 different species, while red pandas usually feed on only one or two species. Despite this, red pandas can generally have a more varied diet, as they feed on a wider variety of foods outside of bamboo.
Giant pandas eat a diet that consists of:
- Bamboo shoots, leaves and culms (about 20 species, 99% of the total diet)
- meat (pikas, rodents, insects)
- ace
- Crops (wheat, pumpkins, kidney beans, animal feed)
Red pandas eat a diet that includes:
- Bamboo shoots and leaves (1-2 species, 85-95% of the total diet)
- Meat (insects, mice, rats, eggs and small lizards or birds if you are pregnant)
- Plants (bark, lichen, roots, grass, flowers)
- Other vegetation (berries, fruits, mushrooms, acorns)
How do pandas find food?
Red pandas and giant pandas have independently adapted to subsist primarily on bamboo, but they have also evolved “false thumbs” that allow them to grip and manipulate bamboo much more easily. But other physiological developments influence which parts of the bamboo plant each species eats. the sharp and weaselThe red panda’s like teeth are great for stripping bamboo shoots and leaf tips, but they leave behind the jointed stem known as the culm for giant pandas. This bear’s heavy, crushing teeth are designed to chew these stems effectively.
Giant panda bears tend to selectively prioritize specific bamboo species and parts of the bamboo depending on seasonal nutritional content. With fewer options to choose from, red pandas will usually supplement their diet with other food sources. Foraging is rarely a problem for either species of pandas, as bamboo is usually available in abundance and neither species has many natural enemies.
How can pandas live on a diet of mainly bamboo?
Species largely succeed in making the most efficient use of their energy, but pandas are an indication that low-efficiency diets can be sustainable if there is both an abundance of resources and minimal foraging or hunting needs. Giant pandas only digest 17% of the bamboo they eat, and they make up for that by consuming between 25 and 85 pounds a day. In contrast, red pandas can digest 24% of their bamboo diet and must eat 20 to 30% of their body weight per day to compensate. As a result, giant pandas and red pandas need to forage and eat for 12 to 18 hours a day.
Did you know that pandas have the digestive system of a typical carnivore?
Red pandas and giant pandas may not be closely related, but their inefficiency at digesting bamboo is a result of the fact that they both have a carnivore’s digestive system. Unlike the typical meat-eater diet, bamboo is low in protein and fat and high in fiber. Both panda species therefore have to be aware of energy consumption. The facts from a 2010 genetic study indicate that both species evolved their vegetarian diets after a mutation caused them to lose the ability to taste umami flavors, making meat an unappealing food source.
What animals eat pandas?
Pandas’ lethargic and voluminous diets would be unsustainable if they faced severe predation. Red pandas and giant pandas have overlapping habitats and naturally overlapping predators. snow leopards are the main threat, but jackals and martens they are known to prey on them as well. In either case, these animals will usually only hunt panda cubs. Red panda cubs are also threatened by some birds of prey. The biggest threat to pandas comes from how somAn poaching and deforestation.
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