The way the panda holds the bamboo and gnaws on it innocently is definitely one of the sources of the giant panda’s cuteness.

But you may not believe it. You think pandas are herbivores. In fact, in terms of biological classification, pandas actually belong to "carnivores" [Mammals - Carnivora (Carnivora)] .

You think vegetarian pandas are cute and easy to bully... That's because you have never seen a panda eating meat in a ferocious manner.

Pandas can also "bamboo bloom"

At the end of the last century in my country, due to climate and other reasons, a large area of ​​"bamboo blooming" appeared in the giant panda colony in Sichuan.

"Bamboo blooming" often means the end of the bamboo life cycle - after flowering, large areas of bamboo will wither.

This is undoubtedly a disaster for the panda, a foodie who lives in peace with the world. And this also forces the pandas to eat meat.

At that time, many giant pandas would break into local villages and attack livestock to fill their stomachs.

(Field Camera Institute) Pictures taken of wild giant pandas eating wildebeest meat)

In fact, in addition to eating meat during the special periods mentioned above, pandas are often photographed secretly eating meat during normal times. For example, when a panda is bored in a bamboo forest and encounters a bamboo rat suffering from heat stroke, the giant panda will "kill" the bamboo rat mercilessly.

In the study of pandas, biologists often find the bones of various animals in their babies.

(There are 10,000 reasons why bamboo rats are eaten)

In fact, there is no absolute distinction between vegetarian and meat-eating animals. It is very normal for vegetarian animals to occasionally give teeth as a sacrifice. .

For pandas, as the former leader of the beast (male) world, eating meat is even more natural.

What did the panda go through when he became a vegetarian?

In terms of biological classification, pandas actually belong to "carnivores" [Mammals - Carnivora (Carnivora)]. Also under this classification are lions, tigers and other beasts.

Look, pandas are not a good person.

Although giant pandas now choose their natural diet, bamboo and other vegetarian foods account for 99% of their annual food. However, pandas still retain a body structure suitable for eating meat.

For example, the giant panda’s stomach and digestive tract and other organs and tissues are closer to those of carnivores, which means that the giant panda is a foodie suitable for meat from its body structure.

The ancestors of giant pandas were serious carnivorous beasts.

About 8 million years ago, the ancestor of the giant panda, Ailurarctos lufengensis, slowly began to switch to a vegetarian diet and became an environmentally friendly vegetarian. By.

(Restored picture | International Journal of Biology, yes, the ancestor of the panda is this guy)

The Lufeng Shi Panda was originally a ferocious beast that drank blood and ate meat. However, in the fierce animal struggle, the Shi Panda could only survive. Tears of dissatisfaction:

At that time, the earth was mainly in a warm and humid tropical environment, and there were a large number of beasts such as ancient apes and saber-toothed tigers. This is the famous "Giant Panda-Sabertooth Paleobiota" era.

Although Lufeng Shi pandas are fierce, their enemies are more powerful. The Shi pandas fought extremely fiercely. In the end, in order to survive, they had no choice but to give in and migrate to the bamboo forest and other environments in the basin to save their lives.

It was this survival experience that made the pandas begin to change their habits...

What's interesting is that it was the panda's wit that allowed it to survive to this day as a "living fossil". The ferocious beasts that had been the companions of the Shi pandas had long since disappeared.

Nowadays, we often use "not a vegetarian" to describe a person who is not easy to mess with. This sentence is also true for pandas.

Don’t look at the pandas holding bamboo and chewing on it. They look very silly, but pandas do not survive by being cute. The giant panda, known as the "living fossil", may have seen "big winds and waves" "More than humans.