Chinese takeout: pandas get bamboo from home

Giant pandas residing at the Calgary Zoo will be the first living outside of China to munch on bamboo from their home country.

Coming from high mountainous regions of the Sichuan province in China, 550 kilograms of bamboo will be shipped twice a week to the zoo for pandas Da Mao and Er Shun, and cubs Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue.

This source was chosen for its high quality, and different types will be harvested in different seasons to accommodate the pandas’ unique dietary needs.

“We consulted with the Toronto Zoo who had the pandas for five years and we had an opportunity to see what worked for them and what didn’t,” said curator Matt Korhonen.

“We decided as a team that bringing in our bamboo direct from China, right from where the pandas would be eating it, would be the easiest way to go.

“In the winter time, they tend to eat more of the stock. In the summer time, they move more to a leaf diet, so as their diet changes seasonally, we are able to mimic that in Calgary based on the bamboo seasonality in China.”

The four pandas are anticipated to consume roughly 40 kilograms a day totalling a whopping 286,000 kilograms of bamboo for their fiveyear stay — a total weight equivalent to two and a half blue whales.

Korhonen said that due to their poor digestive system, they need to either be constantly eating or sleeping. “A panda’s day is basically wake up, eat for an hour or two, sleep for an hour or two, wake up and do it again,” he said.