Bai Yun enjoys a bamboo meal.
In the wild, one to five percent of a giant panda’s diet is non-bamboo food items. This may include wild fruits or berries, scavenged meat, and opportunistically caught small mammals. So why don’t we offer in-season berries and fruits to the San Diego Zoo’s pandas, just as they might snack on in the wild?
Keep in mind that the fruits these animals eat in the wild are very different from those that are cultivated for human consumption. In fact, wild fruits are much, much higher in fiber and lower in sugar than those we eat, since humans have bred cultivated produce for thousands of years to match our own tastes and preferences. We always strive to do our best to match each species’ wild diet, so we try to use fruits sparingly, mainly as a training tool or reward. Our pandas like apples, yams, and carrots just fine, so we usually stick to those as our “go-to” training items, though we do occasionally use applesauce and other extra-desirable foods to make sure they take any needed medications. But above all, we try to keep in mind that 95 percent or more of their wild diet is bamboo and copy that as closely as we can.
In addition to their bamboo, they also get a high-fiber commercial biscuit that supplies their vitamins and minerals. In the wild, of course, pandas don’t have access to such supplements, nor would they need them. Wild pandas are able to eat fresh bamboo growing straight out of the ground, full of all of the nutrients they need. We don’t have the luxury of growing a bamboo forest in the Zoo, so we have to cut their food from elsewhere and transport it. Just as vegetables are more nutritious for us when they’re fresh, bamboo loses some of its nutrients once it’s cut and transported, so we need to make sure we’re meeting all of the nutritional needs of our panda family.
Jennifer Parsons is an associate nutritionist for San Diego Zoo Global.
Thanks for the blog Jennifer. The more I know about pandas, the happier I am.
This is a very interesting article- so whatever the SDZ has to do to give our beloved pandas their vitamins and nutrients sounds good to me!!!
Well, we must be doing ok. Look at the brood we fed and how they are doing.
As an ancient zoo goer, I can tell you that food has improved about 300 percent as did the habitats since my first visit to the Zoo in NY Central Park.I was 3.
Meat was ??? for the tigers. Water was not often available and I cried heartily because some of the monkeys looked sick. I felt bad for them. So i am happy with Zoos I have seen with my own three year old. No tears of sadness only happy smiling faces everywhere. She is a happy zoo goer still. .
Thank you for that interesting bit of information about the pandas food source.
That was a very informative article. Thanks for the information.
very interesting post, good to learn more and more about our friends at SDZ and in the wild, think our pandas are alot spoiled
you do such a great job taking care of their needs and trying to keep them independent of people as much as possible. Can’t wait to hear something about the breeding and see Yun Zi again.
Does bamboo have any flavor in it when eaten? Does it have a fragrance of some sort when its cut?
Seem pretty boring to me to eat it all day like the Panda’s do if it offers nothing to taste or smell.
This is a great question. From our observations of the bears’ behavior, there absolutely are flavors and smells in the bamboo that the animals pick up on. Pandas are actually very choosy about their bamboo and sort through the pile that they’re offered very methodically, sniffing and tasting as they go, to figure out whether they want to eat it or not. Sometimes as much as half of the offered bamboo is rejected. We assume it’s because the pandas are looking for the most nutritious bits out there, and this is one of the ways such a large animal can survive on such a woody food source (the other way is that they eat a lot!). We’re still not sure exactly what sorts of tastes and smells they’re looking for, and it’s actually the subject of research at the moment (are they picking up on bamboo with more sugars or fats? A more complete set of minerals?). Unfortunately, our senses are not as sensitive as the pandas’, so we can’t tell these differences ourselves, but there are a lot of ways that high nutritional value translates to smells and tastes that the bears use every day to choose their best diet possible.
Thank you to everyone at SDZ once again for your dedicated care and love for our precious Yun-Gao family. This article just goes to show that you leave nothing to chance in keeping these beautiful bears healthy and happy. They are very, very lucky to live at SDZ!
I thought that you also used some of the Bamboo that is grow everywhere at the zoo. I was there last week and saw some boo that looked 60ft. tall. Wouldn’t it be better if you got locally grown boo? Lots of it here in SD. Thank You.
We definitely feed the pandas with local bamboo; all of the bamboo they receive is cut from Zoo-controlled properties in San Diego County, including the Zoo and the Safari Park. We just aren’t able to duplicate the situation of a wild panda, who forages over 1 or 2 square miles of bamboo forest and eats the bamboo straight out of the ground. To supply the 150 lbs. per day we feed our bears, our Horticulture staff goes out to designated locations, cuts the bamboo, brings it to the panda exhibit, and stores it in a cooler, to keep it as fresh as possible for the several meals a day that our keepers prepare for the bears. So from cutting to feeding, it might be as much as 24 hours, during which the bamboo is losing nutrients over time (mainly vitamins). This is the main reason we also offer supplemental biscuits, to replace the portion that is lost. The same thing happens to food for humans after it’s cut from the field and transported to the grocery store, which is why produce fresh out of the ground or off the tree is often the healthiest!
Bai Yun’s daughter our lovely girl Zhen Zhen was sent to the Xianzhi Bamboo Tip Eco-Park of Leshan.
Details from: roll.sohu.com/20120401/n339553196.shtml
Dear Nannykeepers,
Here are my meal orders then:
Brekkie – a bowl of boo cereal with apple bits and milk.
Mid morning Snackie – Steamed young bamboo shoots with a light apple sauce.
Lunch – A fresh boo salad, a boo steak with yam fritters and boo pie.
Afternoon snackie – Carrot Cuppy Cake and a boo shake
Dinner – Bamboo dumplings and noodles in a fresh broth, sprinkled with diced seasonal vegetables. Dessert will be yam ice cream with a cherry on top of the whipped cream.
Thank you very much for all the nice service I have received thus far. I love you all and I love all my hearing tests. May I have some more soon? I like those biscuits best.
Thank you.
I am always your grateful panda cubby,
Yun Zi, son of Gao Gao and Bai Yun
Yuni – you forgot your midnight snack
snackS — this boy loves his snacks.
Hee Hee, I did not forget but I have my secret stash of boo chips, boo biscuits, yam and apple slices for my night snack attacks. I am not as fond of carrot sticks but when the hunger pangs start hee hee I will nibble on them. And I sometimes do ask for boo custard for dessert though and that is yummy.
Love,
Yunz
It’s hard to believe that wildl pandas get all the nutrients they need from bamboo. But they do. Thanks for the reminder.
Here’s a link to pictures of Su Lin and her cub in Bifengxia (via Pandas International): www (dot) chinapanda.org.cn/gallery.php?id=161&page_style=list
Lovely to see Gao Gao in his tub again. He really seems to love it. Very contented.
Hurry….Rita with your camera…. it is 9:44 Sunday a.m. there is a Bear in a Pan sleeping ..too darn cute…..looks like DAD
Love the pix of Gao in his favorite tub. He plays like a toddler bear. What else is in the tub? It looks like he’s throwing stuff around.
By now you have probably heard that Zhen Zhen moved from Bifengxia to the Mount Emei Xianzhi Zhujian Ecological Park near Leshan on March 30, 2012
I found a news article with pictures about the move of Ge Ge, Zhen Zhen and Min Min to the Mount Emei Xianzhi Zhujian Ecological Park near Leshan which took place on March 30, 2012
www(dot)xzzj(dot)cn/sty/shownews.asp?id=317
The website for the Mount Emei Xianzhi Zhujian Ecological Park
In English www(dot)xzzj(dot)cn/sty/Enindex.asp
In Chinese www(dot)xzzj((dot)cn/sty/
The Panda Hall in English: www(dot)xzzj(dot)cn/sty/EnAboutus.asp?Title=About Panda Hall&Aboutusorder=2
Remove the (dot) and replace by actual dot to restore the links.
I have posted the pictures on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44341735@N02/6893527914/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44341735@N02/7039624331/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44341735@N02/6893528014/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44341735@N02/6893528070/
Thanks.
Thank you, Danielle!
I’ve heard on the internet that ZZ has been moved, can you tell us anything about this and where she has gone to?
Moderator’s note: We’re working on it
Celfy, I just posted the info above your comment.
Thank you both
I just learned (via Pandas Unlimited) that Zhen Zhen has been moved to Mount Emei Xianzhi Zhujian Ecological Park (www.xzzj.cn/sty/Enindex.asp), which is about 50 miles from Bifengxia.
Interesting article!!
There is some bamboo growing at the National Zoo in the panda area and also out in front along Connecticut Avenue, but I believe it’s just for decorative purposes. The serious boo for panda meals gets trucked in from southern Maryland, where it grows far away from the city traffic.
P.S. Yunnie, U R 2 spoiled!
I am too, hee hee.
Yunior XOXO
Long time ago in a faraway kingdom in the mountains of Ancient China, there lived a handsome swordsman by the name of Gao Gao. His past was a mystery. He came down from the Five Dragon Mountain one day and walked into the town named as Cloud Lake. He carried with him a simple cloth bag of belongings tied round him and a sword.
As he entered the town gates, he heard the town crier shouting. ‘Hear ye, hear ye, the Governor of the Province has 3 beautiful daughters; Bai Yun, Hsiang Yun and Mei Yun. In 10 days’ time, he will be sending his champion to this town. If you can defeat his champion, you can choose one of his beautiful daughters for your wife.’
After he had made his announcement, the town crier stuck posters of the 3 beautiful ladies of Sichuan on the town hall wall. Gao Gao’s eyes were invariably drawn to the eldest daughter. She had a lovely round face with perfect almond shaped eyes. Further more her ears were exquisitely shaped and her smile was so gentle and sweet. Gao Gao felt his heart beat just a little faster.
Around him were also other young male pandas eager to win a beautiful bride. One swaggered around and did handstands. Another did a somersault. Gao Gao just smiled secretly to himself. He made a vow to return in 10 days and make Bai Yun his bride or die trying. With that he strode off to the nearest inn, the Inn of Bamboo Surprises, and found lodging there.
After he had washed up, he went downstairs and ordered some boo dumplings and some spring rolls. As he ate, he listened to the conversations around him. He found out that the province had been threatened with invasion. The Governor was hoping that by this unusual method of getting sons-in-law he would have ready leaders to go to war.
Gao Gao was not perturbed. He was a skillful swordsman and he knew his worth. He did not need to show off or yap about how good he was. He had spent the last 3 years in Five Dragon Mountain studying under the Panda Master. He had learnt all he could and he had even been asked to tutor others by the Master. What an accolade.
‘BURP!’ that came unsummoned. Gao Gao grinned and blushed. A happy tummy means a happy Panda. Gao Gao took a sip of his boo tea when he saw another warrior enter the dining area. Gao Gao knew him. He was Yang Yang, finest fist fighter in the East, and with him was Chuang Chuang, the best muay thai boxer ever.
They spotted him and went to join him. The 3 pandas were firm friends born out of respect for each other’s expertise. After more rounds of food and drink, the 3 Pandateers decide to call it a day and they crawled into their respective dens and slept soundly till the next day.
To be Continued
Pandateers! I love it. Thanks, Yunnie for a great story. More to come, I hope..
Interesting info on our bears and their boo! Thanks Jennifer