Together with its black-and-white fur, slothful behavior and cuddly demeanor, bamboo is a defining feature of the critically-endangered giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). A single panda can consume between 26 and 84 pounds (12 to 38 kilograms) of the vegetation each day, and may spend as much as 16 hours daily eating mouthful after mouthful of this fibrous, chewy plant.
These consumption patterns are so intense that Feng Li, a researcher at China West Normal University, describes the panda as a "mobile shredder of bamboo." But do panda bears ever expand their diets and eat anything besides this fast-growing plant?
