In Between Bloom: Panda In Between Bloom

The giant panda is a terrestrial animal and primarily spends its life roaming and feeding in the bamboo forests of the Qinling Mountains and in the hilly province of Sichuan. Giant pandas are generally solitary. Each adult has a defined territory and a female is not tolerant of other females in her range. A typical 45-kilo (100-pound) adult spends as long as 12 hours eating 12 to 38 kilos (26–84 lb) of bamboo a day. Pandas can reach 150 kg (330 lb) in captivity and eat even more! When not eating and looking for food, pandas sleep most of the rest of the time. In the wild, giant pandas sleep for two to four hours between feeds. They eating so much, are you wondering about their poop routine? 99% of a panda's diet consists of bamboo, but its digestive tract retains carnivorous characteristics. Giant pandas' ability to digest bamboo is low at less than 20 percent, and bamboo itself is low in nutrients. So, in order to keep up their energy, pandas have to eat a lot of bamboo and thus poop a lot! Giant pandas poop every 15–20 minutes. The vast majority of their feces is undigested bamboo.