Lazy Pandas – a Giant Panda Has a Reason to Be Lazy!

Most of the time, when we see pandas, they are either sleeping, lying on the stomach or the back, sitting, or eating seated. Even when they are moving around, it’s like in slow motion. It’s apparently pandas are lazy. But why?

Pandas’ laziness is not a result of captive life, but lies in their blood, literally. Millions years ago, pandas were carnivores, but over the long time history, the temperature on earth has increased, other big carnivores coming from the north started to invade into panda’s natural habitat, and more competition came between these animals for prey. Pandas have then gradually changed themselves to be vegetarian. More than that, they’ve chosen the hard-pick, bamboo, as the main food.

But their teeth and digestive system are still the same as carnivores, without proper enzyme for plants, so they can only absorb up to 20% out of the bamboo nutrition, let alone the bamboo is already quite low nutritious. To ensure enough energy for survival, they eat more than ten hours a day while moving as little as possible.