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
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding organizations in improving ways to conserve giant pandas. For example, its partnership with Zoo Atlanta helped the zoo secure the loan of 2 giant pandas. To date, these 2 giant pandas, Yang Yang and Lun Lun, have produced five off-spring: Mei Lan in 2006, Xi Lan in 2008, Po born on November 3, 2010 and Mei Lun and Mei Huan in 2013. Other research partners include: On April 11, 2013 Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and CNTV reached an agreement on the establishment of iPanda.com after an official signing ceremony, and they immediately started preparing for the test