Random Panda inquisitivity...

[Lindsay-c]

I am aware that pandas are not british but I was watching a program on Pandas and read more about them my marvelous natural history book after and it's got me wondering...

Pandas are meant to be carnivores... But they eat bamboo
The bamboo provides the pandas with little nutrition (so it has to eat absolutely loads) and results in a low energy lifestyle...

Also on the program they were collecting huge amount of bamboo knowing that the pandas would reject 2/3rds of it because they are fussy...

now I can possibly understand if the pandas were origionally carnivores years and years ago... but them discovered they strongly enjoyed the taste of bamboo... and them began eating it and after a while they were living a 'low energy lifestyle' and so couldn't get up off their furry bottoms to catch prey and the infants would learn to eat it from the parents...

But surely theres more to it than something along those lines because form what I've seen the mysterious ways in which nature works usually makes sense to me... Why would pandas make this disadvantageous jump from carnivorism to living on bamboo which may have contributed to the decline in the population of the species ?

[pressld2]

This is a total guess with no research or any evidence to back it up, but...

Could it be a sweet tooth? The flesh inside the hard woody exterior of fresh bamboo is quite sweet. Not as sweet as sugar cane but still pretty sweet.

By the way, "inquisitivity" - love it!

Dave P.

[Lindsay-c]

theN * not 'them'

Well if a sweet tooth can cause a species to make a lifestyle change which could threaten their existence then we have trouble !

is mother nature aware of this pickle?...

[Ukwildlifeo]

When they evolved there was plenty of bamboo, which meant evolve to eat it was advantagous - it was an untapped food resource for bears. But now we have flattened most the bamboo forests it appears to be a silly move, though it wasn't at the time.

Had we not destroyed their habitat and food they would have either evolved a more effiecent digestive system or died out as an evolutionary dead end.

[Lindsay-c]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

When they evolved there was plenty of bamboo, which meant evolve to eat it was advantagous - it was an untapped food resource for bears. But now we have flattened most the bamboo forests it appears to be a silly move, though it wasn't at the time.

Had we not destroyed their habitat and food they would have either evolved a more effiecent digestive system or died out as an evolutionary dead end.

Ahh that's an interesting point. Would indeed take an awful long time for natural selection to kick in, if at all and just about everything in nature is set to detonate by humans so there isn't the time...

Parasitic monsters we are T'is a pity...

[stigofthedump]

could I ask why you say


'Pandas are meant to be carnivores'

Vince

[Lindsay-c]

Well according to what I've read they have carnassial teeth and it's ancestors supposedly were meat eaters.

And another source tells me "The giant panda are members of the Ailuridae family, which are a subdivision of the suborder Carnivora, the carnivores."

'meant to be' as in by nature should be...

[stigofthedump]

Not nit-picking Lindsay I was just under the impression that bears were omnivores.

As usual I'm going to be educated here...and I'm glad of it!


Vince

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by stigofthedump

Not nit-picking Lindsay I was just under the impression that bears were omnivores.

As usual I'm going to be educated here...and I'm glad of it!


Vince

they are - carnasial teeth give the ability to eat meat - they dont imply that one eats it exclusively (after all people have canines - and look at the range of things we eat)

[RKB]

The reason is a simple evolutionary one - they do because they can and 'it works' (in the sense that they survive to breed). As such, it's not disadvantageous, because bamboo is super-abundant. So if you live in a forest, it makes evolutionary sense if you can eat the forest.

Brown bears spend an awful amount of time wandering about, eating berries, looking for carrion, digging up grubs. If they could just sit down and eat maple trees, that would be another option.

Evolution has no 'wisdom', direction or rationality. All that happens is that the things that work allow animals to reproduce, and the things that don't, don't. After all, it's pretty pointless for us to have 4 fingers on each hand when we could get along just fine with less, but unless it stops us breeding then evolution doesn't care. It is full of redundancy and inefficiency, which is what the creationists can't get their head around - after all, who in their right mind would have designed a panda?!