Bamboo, an herbaceous plant, originates from China and mainly grows in Sichuan, Hunan and other regions. There are more than 1,200 kinds of bamboo all over the world. Bamboo is always green throughout the year and is honored as one of “Four Gentlemen among Flowers (including plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum)”, “Three Friends in the Cold Weather (including plum blossom, pine and bamboo. It is not only popular among writers and poets, but also the favorite food of giant pandas, the national treasure. The Bashania fargesii species of bamboo growing at an altitude of 2,000 meters is one of the favorites of giant pandas bred in captivity.  

Su Dongpo (a Chinese writer, poet, painter, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and a statesman of the Song Dynasty) stated: I would like to have meals without meat rather than live in a place without bamboo. No meat, one gets thin; but no bamboo, one will become tacky. And bamboo is necessary in a giant panda’s life. Around three million years ago, giant pandas forged an indissoluble bond with bamboo. In fact, the giant pandas’ ancestors ate meat long before. After the analysis of giant panda fossils existing for three million years up to now, scientists have found that giant pandas had already been omnivorous animals at that time and tended to eat bamboo. Now, bamboo accounts for more than 90% of the giant pandas’ food. To get used to the life of eating bamboo, giant pandas have had slight changes in their own bodies: Their false thumbs help them grasp and hold bamboo flexibly; they have thick molar and good masticatory muscle due to chewing a lot of bamboo for a long time—this is why their heads look conglobate and cute; and the fiber worm appearing in the intestinal wall of digestive tract of a giant panda can help it digest bamboo, a kind of crude fiber food. When observing carefully, you will also find that picky giant pandas will smell their bamboo repeatedly after grabbing a stalk. It seems that the sensitivity of their noses is very good.  

Bamboo has become an indispensable part of life of a giant panda.

Giant pandas also like eating bamboo shoots; an adult giant panda can eat 50 kilograms of bamboo shoots in a day.

Giant pandas live a carefree life without competition for bamboo, and are referred to as “Recluse of the Bamboo Forest”. Meanwhile, the destinies of the giant panda and bamboo are intertwined. In general, herbaceous plants will blossom and yield fruit every year, but bamboo is different. The interval time of blossoming of each kind of bamboo ranges from 15 years to 120 years. In Chinese literature and data, a book in Qin Dynasty told that bamboo blossomed in a large scale, and said that, “Bamboo blossoms every 60 years, yields fruit and dies.” There are also records of the blossoming of bamboo in the past 40 years. Between the winter and spring of 1976, a lot of bamboo blossomed and died in Wenxian County of Gansu Province, Pingwu County and Nanping County of Sichuan and other provinces and subsequently the dead bodies of 138 giant pandas were discovered. Before scientists were able to determine the causes of the pandas’ deaths, another large-scale blossoming of bamboo occurred from circa 1984 to 1987. At that time, large areas of bamboo in Minshan Mountain and Qionglai mountains of Sichuan died, threatening the survival of local giant pandas. 

In 1987, during the great mass efforts to save giant pandas, a commonweal organization with an objective to protect rare endangered wildlife like giant pandas—Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Foundation—was established. The Foundation not only has been providing funding for the endangered wildlife scientific research programs focusing on protection of giant pandas, but also continues to promote environmental protection for the giant pandas to giant panda fans all over the world. 

With the increasing numbers in the giant panda population and the recovery of wild ecological environment, we believe that giant pandas can return to nature and continue their bond with bamboo in nature one day. 

The logo of Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Foundation—Panda Mother and Her Child, which is designated to show the care for the breeding and conservation of giant pandas