Raccoons used to be brutal carnivores

According to Nicole MacCorkle, panda care worker at Smithsonian National Park (Washington DC, USA), pandas still eat meat if people give it to them, but do not actively hunt.

>>>Ancient pandas and monkeys used to compete for food

Chinese scientists say ancient pandas are brutal carnivores. According to Chinese paleontologist Huang Wanbo: '400,000 years ago, there were more pandas than people'.

Scientists explain that it is humans who make pandas change the habit of eating meat. As people get more and more crowded, pandas are pushed to live in higher areas. They are forced to eat bamboo to avoid competing with other carnivores.

However, until now, pandas still retain the characteristics of predators. The intestines of plant-eating animals are usually longer to support fiber digestion, but raccoons do not.

In addition, when scientists proceeded to arrange the panda's genome, they found that the animal lacked genes encoding enzymes that break down cellulose - the fiber in bamboo and other grasses. .

Researcher Fuwen Wei of the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing discovered that the reason the panda can digest bamboo is because the panda's intestine contains bacteria similar to bacteria. in the intestinal tract of herbivores.

Thirteen types of bacteria have been identified from the family of bacteria that can break down cellulose, of which seven are only found in pandas.

However, pandas cannot get enough energy from bamboo. A panda can only digest 17% from 9-14 kg of food that they eat every day. So they choose a slow lifestyle to save energy.