Why do pandas eat only bamboo? WANA CNEC Christian College Pandas certainly have a monotonous diet. There is some debate whether pandas belong to the raccoon family or the bear family.
The red panda and the giant panda are found in remote areas of Asia. The red panda, also known as the lesser panda and cat bear, resembles a raccoon but has a longer body and tail and a rounder head. It is found at high altitudes in the Himalayas and the mountains of western China and northern Burma.
The red panda spends much of its time in trees but feeds on the ground, eating nuts, roots and other plant matter. They also eat fruits and insects.
The giant panda resembles a bear, though its anatomy is similar to that of a raccoon. Giant pandas live in the high mountain bamboo forests of central China and their diet consists almost entirely of bamboo shoots.
Because bamboo has very little nutritional value, they need to eat for up to 14 hours and consume 12 to 14 kilograms of bamboo a day. This also means the animals have to lead a very leisurely lifestyle - they're not lazy, it's simply that they do not have the energy to do anything very energetic. Zoo pandas also eat rice gruel, carrots, apples and sweet potatoes.
Scientists do not really know why giant pandas evolved to eat mainly bamboo. However, their eating bamboo - which is low in nutrients - is probably one of the reasons for their low rate of reproduction.
An An and Jia Jia, the giant pandas at Ocean Park, are fed fresh bamboo every day, which is brought in twice a week from Guangdong.