--- description: Giant Pandas are not only reliant on a highly specialized diet of bamboo; new research suggests they are not evolved eat their favorite grub title: Panda Poop Suggests They Shouldn't Eat Their Favorite Food image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt931464f80b6edb0b/698850e906f2c16b8433a411/panda-bamboo-digestion.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Panda Poop Suggests They Shouldn't Eat Their Favorite Food of Bamboo ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_ by [Kevin McSpadden](/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2015 6:56 AM CUT  A photo taken on April 1, 2014 shows the giant panda Hao Hao eating bamboo at Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, Belgium. A photo taken on April 1, 2014 shows the giant panda Hao Hao eating bamboo at Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, Belgium.Virginie Lefour—AFP/Getty Images by [Kevin McSpadden](/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2015 6:56 AM CUT Giant pandas may be reliant on a highly specialized diet of bamboo, but [new research](https://www.asm.org/index.php/asm-newsroom2/press-releases/92-news-room/press-releases/93522-giant-panda-gut-bacteria-can-t-efficiently-digest-bamboo "undefined") suggests they are not actually very good at digesting their favorite meal. Scientists in China discovered that, unlike most herbivores, a panda’s gut bacteria has not evolved to match its diet and remains more akin its omnivorous bear cousins. The team took 121 fecal samples from 45 giant pandas — 24 adults, 16 juveniles and five cubs — and compared these with data from a previous study, which included seven wild pandas. Both studies indicated that the bears do not have plant-degrading bacteria like Ruminococcaceae and Bacteroides. “This result is unexpected and quite interesting, because it implies the giant panda’s gut microbiota may not have well adapted to its unique diet, and places pandas at an evolutionary dilemma,” said Xiaoyan Pang, a co-author of the study in a press release. The scientists also discovered that gut bacteria in late Autumn is quite different from spring and summer — which they hypothesize may be a result of the lack of bamboo shoots in the fall. Pandas spend up to 14 hours per day consuming bamboo but only digest about 17% of their meal. China’s most famous animal evolved from a species that ate both meat and plants and began to consume almost exclusively bamboo around 2 million years ago. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3890318/giant-pandas-china-digestion-extinction-bamboo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3890318/giant-pandas-china-digestion-extinction-bamboo/"},"headline":"Panda Poop Suggests They Shouldn't Eat Their Favorite Food of Bamboo","datePublished":"2015-05-20T06:56:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:28:30.553Z","description":"After 14 hours of eating bamboo, only 17% is digested","url":"https://time.com/3890318/giant-pandas-china-digestion-extinction-bamboo/","keywords":["animals","Food","China","study","Science topic","Research","Extinction","pandas"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt931464f80b6edb0b/698850e906f2c16b8433a411/panda-bamboo-digestion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin McSpadden","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt931464f80b6edb0b/698850e906f2c16b8433a411/panda-bamboo-digestion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A photo taken on April 1, 2014 shows the giant panda Hao Hao eating bamboo at Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, Belgium.","caption":"A photo taken on April 1, 2014 shows the giant panda Hao Hao eating bamboo at Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, Belgium.","creditText":"Virginie Lefour—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3890318/giant-pandas-china-digestion-extinction-bamboo/","name":"Panda Poop Suggests They Shouldn't Eat Their Favorite Food of Bamboo"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life","description":"Conservationists and scientists have a saying, \"extinction is forever.\" But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to \"DE-extinction is forever.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7mURxfr4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-12T14:27:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3890318/giant-pandas-china-digestion-extinction-bamboo/","duration":"PT4M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3890318/giant-pandas-china-digestion-extinction-bamboo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```