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
Xin Xin (giant panda) Xin Xin (giant panda) Xin Xin is a female giant panda that lives in the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. "Xin Xin" (新新 "new" in Chinese) was conceived via artificial insemination and was born in the Zoo on 1 July 1990. Her mother is Tohui (she died 16 November 1993) and her father is Chia Chia from the London Zoo (died in Mexico on 13 October 1991). Xin Xin is one of only three giant pandas in the Americas outside the United States. She is the youngest of the Mexican pandas. Xin Xin can be visited for free during normal