Giant panda to digest cellulose is ascribed to the microbes in its gut. Pandas are born with sterile intestines and require bacteria obtained from their mother's feces to digest vegetation. The giant panda is a "highly specialized" animal with "unique adaptations", and has lived in bamboo forests for millions of years. The average giant panda eats as much as 9 to 14 kg (20 to 30 lb) of bamboo shoots a day to compensate for the limited energy content of its diet. Ingestion of such a large quantity of material is possible because of the rapid passage of large amounts of indigestible
Giant panda the legendary fierce creature "pixiu" (貔貅) as referring to the giant panda is also common. During the reign of the Yongle Emperor (early 15th century), his relative from Kaifeng sent him a captured "zouyu" (), and another "zouyu" was sighted in Shandong. "Zouyu" is a legendary "righteous" animal, which, similarly to a "qilin", only appears during the rule of a benevolent and sincere monarch. It is said to be fierce as a tiger, but gentle and strictly vegetarian, and described in some books as a white tiger with black spots. Puzzled about the real zoological identity of the creature captured