Panda ‘ate leg bone for calcium’
A WILD giant panda spotted munching on the leg bone of a dead animal might be doing so to supplement calcium in its diet, experts at a northwestern Chinese nature reserve said.
It is rare for the bamboo-munching bears to be seen eating bones of other animals, but researchers at the Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province said they observed the panda consume half of the leg bone in 20 minutes during a patrol through the reserve’s bamboo forest on Tuesday.
The bone was later confirmed to belong to a takin — a type of goat antelope — that had died of natural causes, said Liang Qihui, a senior engineer at the reserve.
Experts at the reserve say the panda’s appetite for animal bones may derive from the need to supplement calcium and calories during winter — studies have shown that older pandas suffer from osteoporosis.
There have been reports of wild pandas eating dead animal bodies, and panda dung at the reserve has often been found to contain the remains of birds and other animals.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证:沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证:31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证:0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证:沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证:沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.