Use of the nutrients in bamboo by the red panda (Ailurus fulgens)

Nutrient use by the red panda Ailurus fulgens was measured in animals fed o nly on their natural bamboo Bashania spanostachya diet. The project was car ried out at the field observation station of Yele Natural Reserve in Sichua n, China. Two-week long trials were conducted at monthly intervals from May to November 1995. Results showed that dry matter digestibility differed si gnificantly among seasons and between diets. Digestibilities of dry matter and key nutrients were high in summer-autumn, intermediate in spring and lo w in winter. Shoots were more easily digested than leaves and exhibited the highest digestibility. These variations were positively correlated with nu trient contents in bamboo. The results also indicated that the red panda po orly processed its bamboo food. This was demonstrated by the lower digestio n coefficients of dry matter and nutrients, especially that of cell wall co nstituents. This implied that microbial digestion only played a minor role in its digestive strategy, similar to the giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuc a, another herbivorous carnivore. In addition, the transit of bamboo throug h the red panda gut was very rapid (2-4 h). In order to survive on this poo r-quality diet, it seems that the red panda has to select high-quality item s of bamboo such as tender leaves and shoots. These are ingested in large q uantities (over 1.5 kg of fresh leaves and 4 kg of fresh shoots daily) that pass through the digestive tract fairly rapidly so as to maximize nutrient intake.