Microbes help giant pandas overcome meat-eating heritage Giant pandas have more in common with carnivorous ancestors than they do with herbivores. I mean, look at the teeth on that guy. And their digestive system is notoriously inefficient, converting as little at 15-20% of the calories in the bamboo they eat to usable sugars. That’s why all they seem to do is eat. New research has uncovered some of the microbes in their gut that helped them adapt to this bamboo-only lifestyle instead of depending on the carnivorous ways of the past (like their bear relatives). I guess if they can’t be plant-eaters, thankfully their bacteria can! (via Nature News)
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Microbes help giant pandas overcome meat-eating heritage

Giant pandas have more in common with carnivorous ancestors than they do with herbivores. I mean, look at the teeth on that guy. And their digestive system is notoriously inefficient, converting as little at 15-20% of the calories in the bamboo they eat to usable sugars. That’s why all they seem to do is eat.

New research has uncovered some of the microbes in their gut that helped them adapt to this bamboo-only lifestyle instead of depending on the carnivorous ways of the past (like their bear relatives). I guess if they can’t be plant-eaters, thankfully their bacteria can!

(via Nature News)

Source: nature.com

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    la banda panda
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  21. moustachioed said: The question, for me, then becomes: “How did it happen?”
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