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
Su Lin (1930s giant panda) Su Lin (1930s giant panda) Su Lin () was the name given to the giant panda cub captured in 1936 and brought to America by the explorer Ruth Harkness. The first panda kept outside of China, it would die just two years later, but marked the beginning of an extensive series of pandas being taken abroad from China. Harkness mentioned in her 1938 book "The Baby Giant Panda" that the capture took place within a day's walk from the Min River in Sichuan. Su Lin, about 9 weeks old at the time of his capture, was named after Su-Lin Young,