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Why are pandas so ‘chonky’ despite their vegan diet?
- A new study found that a type of gut bacteria plays an important role in synchronising the panda metabolism according to bamboo season
- The animals eat only leaves for around two-thirds of the year, making it crucial they build up fat during the other months
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Nobody would use the adjectives “lean” or “athletic” to describe China’s roly-poly giant pandas, even though they eat almost entirely bamboo for their entire lives.
Despite subsisting on a low-fat, poor-quality diet, these animals are beloved in part because of their heft. Which makes one wonder: why are pandas so chubby?
According to a new study published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports, the answer may be gut bacteria that helps pandas build up fat despite eating only leaves for two-thirds of the year.
When bamboo shoots come into season during the spring and summer, scientists found that the animals’ weight increases.
They theorised that a type of gut bacteria called Clostridium butyricum helps the pandas gain weight and store fat, which then supports the animals’ health when the shoots go out of season and pandas can only eat bamboo leaves.
The bacteria, named Clostridium butyricum is a type of gut bacteria that also exists in humans, and it has been used in clinical treatments for inflammatory bowel syndrome and severe diarrhoea.
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