Inside a Panda Keeper's Day: Bamboo, Scales and Patience

Giant panda eating bamboo — A giant panda eating bamboo — up to fourteen hours of the keeper’s day. Photo: J. Patrick Fischer — CC BY-SA 3.0

A giant panda eats for up to sixteen hours a day, so keepers build the entire shift around bamboo. Here is the timetable, the numbers and the training that keeps the animals handleable.

Bamboo grove — Bamboo is low in nutrients, which is why pandas eat almost constantly. Photo: 深鸣 — CC BY-SA 4.0

Open the article in Zoo magazine →

Photography credits: J. Patrick Fischer (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons