Giant Pandas 101 Nat Geo Wild
Transcript
00:00 If there's one animal that lives up to the saying, "You are what you eat," it's probably the giant panda.
00:06 Nearly every aspect of a panda's life revolves around bamboo.
00:11 Giant pandas eat, and eat, and eat.
00:16 Pandas can spend more than half of each day eating.
00:21 To understand why pandas eat so much, you need to look more closely at what they eat.
00:28 Bamboo, a giant woody grass, is a very poor nutritional source,
00:33 low in protein and high in fiber that pandas can't digest well.
00:38 Yet, bamboo comprises 99% of a panda's diet.
00:43 To compensate, pandas need to eat 20 to 40 pounds a day.
00:48 Pandas have quite a bit in common with carnivores.
00:56 A panda's digestive system is more closely related to that of a carnivore than an herbivore,
01:01 which explains why they don't digest plants very well.
01:05 Fortunately, they have other adaptations that help them chow down on bamboo stalks,
01:10 including large, powerful jaws.
01:13 When they're not eating, pandas rest, and rest, and poop, and poop.
01:23 Since they don't digest bamboo very well, pandas end up passing a lot of it as waste,
01:28 which unsurprisingly contains a lot of undigested bamboo bits.
01:33 Pandas defecate more than 100 times a day, producing more than 40 pounds of waste.
01:41 Pandas even go number two while they're napping.
01:44 And they spend a lot of time napping as a way to compensate for their low-energy diet.
01:51 Pandas have tiny cubs because of their poor diet.
01:55 Baby giant pandas are born blind, helpless, and tiny, weighing just 5 ounces,
02:02 or about one thousandth the size of their mom.
02:05 Of all placental mammals, panda cubs are the tiniest in comparison to their mother.
02:11 Why so small?
02:12 The mother's diet plays a role.
02:14 Due to her low metabolism, her baby panda cubs are the smallest in comparison to their mother.
02:20 Due to her low metabolism, a panda mother has a relatively low blood oxygen level,
02:25 so the cub can get more oxygen outside the womb.
02:29 Pandas' black and white fur may help them camouflage.
02:34 Once again, we can look at a panda's diet to help understand why its fur is the color it is.
02:40 Pandas don't store enough fat to hibernate like other bears,
02:44 so they have to keep eating bamboo all year round.
02:48 Because they're always roaming in search of bamboo,
02:51 pandas are unable to shed their fur quickly enough to match their background like other animals can.
02:57 So their black and white pattern may be sort of a compromise.
03:01 White fur allows them to blend into snowy backgrounds.
03:05 Black fur allows them to blend into shady, forest backgrounds.
03:09 Historically, pandas inhabited a much wider range than they do today,
03:16 and they have faced multiple predators.
03:19 So at the time, they may have relied more on their camouflage ability.
03:23 Today, pandas are not at as high a risk from predators, but rather from a loss of bamboo.
03:30 The good news is that the giant panda's conservation status
03:35 was recently upgraded from endangered to vulnerable.
03:39 An estimated 1,850 pandas remain in the wild in China,
03:44 an increase of 17% over the past decade.
03:48 However, pandas still face significant threats tied closely to their food source.
03:54 Human development has driven pandas into isolated, fragmented mountain regions,
04:00 restricting their access to bamboo.
04:02 Additionally, climate change threatens to eliminate more than a third of the bamboo habitat
04:08 that pandas rely on by the end of the century.
04:12 (Music)
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04:27 (upbeat music)
04:29 you