What Do Giant Pandas Eat?

Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are in the order carnivora and are members of the bear or ursidae family. Panda bears stand about 3 feet tall when on all fours and can weigh up to 250 pounds. While they are largely vegetarian, they are closely related to the carnivorous polar and grizzly bears and have digestive systems that originally evolved to process meat. Giant pandas are native to Central China and live in forests with a dense bamboo understorey. While they are popularly thought to eat only bamboo shoots, their dietary preferences are actually slightly more complex.

  1. Bamboo

    • Adult giant pandas consume bamboo leaves and shoots at the rate of up to 84 pounds per day. Bamboo is thought to account for up to 99 percent of the diet of wild giant pandas and adults spend up to 14 hours per day foraging. Wild pandas are known to eat around 25 different species of bamboo such as Bambusa oldhamii. San Diego Zoo's bamboo specialist John Updike reports that Phyllostachys aurea is one of the panda's favorite species. In the wild, pandas are so dependent on bamboo that large numbers have starved to death during periods when areas of bamboo have flowered and then died.

    Vegetation

    • Pandas are known to eat other vegetarian foods as well as bamboo and have been observed in the wild eating grasses, flowers, vines, bulbs and even mushrooms.

    Carrion and Other Foods

    • Wild pandas are not completely vegetarian and have been observed eating carrion when it is available and also hunting for small rodents and deer fawns. Pandas have also been known to eat insects, fish and honey.

    In Captivity

    • In captivity giant pandas are fed mostly on bamboo, but are also provided with nutritious alternatives such as apples, carrots, sugar cane and sweet potatoes or yams. They are also given specially made high-fiber cookies called leaf eater biscuits.