Status
Vulnerable
Habitat
Temperate montane bamboo forest
Range
Asia
Group
Bears
A carnivore's digestive system, running on grass.
Pandas retain the short gut of a carnivore, which extracts perhaps a fifth of the energy from bamboo. The response is volume: twelve to thirty-eight kilograms a day, and very little movement between meals.
China's reserve network and corridor work moved the species off the Endangered list. It is worth stating plainly, because conservation stories are usually told in the other direction.
Frames in the archive
Full gallery
Bamboo Arithmetic
Sichuan — fourteen hours a day, eating.
