The giant panda is part of the Ursidae family and in the order of Carnivora. Animals that are in the order of Carnivora usually eat meat but the giant panda specializes in the herbivorous diet of bamboo. The giant panda has retained the typical monogastric carnivore digestive system which is typically short and has no special compartments to retain food or any symbiotic bacteria needed to break down cellulose from the bamboo into any usable nutrients. Since the giant panda is unable to digest cellulose and lacks the necessary symbiotic bacteria for the digestion of bamboo, they have to rely on mainly the cell content through a process where the bamboo is first eaten and then passed unaltered in the digestive tract in a very short time. The giant panda must eat a large amount of bamboo daily in order to meet their energy requirements.
In an article titled “Energy Digestibility of Giant Pandas on Bamboo-Only and on Supplemented Diets”, the goal of this study was to figure out the energy digestibility of bamboo by giant pandas using digestibility trials and through analysis using bomb calorimetry. An energy budget is a numerical statement that measures the amount of energy collected and the placement of the energy to various functions. Energy budgets can be described using the equation: E=M+P+U+F (where E is the total amount of energy consumed, M is the energy used for maintenance and activity, P is the energy used for production (which includes growth and reproduction), U is the energy lost in urine, and F is the energy lost in feces.). The total energy consumed minus the energy lost in feces is the digestible energy and shows the ability of the digestive system to process consumed food.
The majority of the bamboo plant consist...
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...ations and behavioral patterns of the giant panda can lead to more information into areas such as how their metabolism works and also strategies female pandas use while pregnant.
Works Cited
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Finley, T. G., Sikes, R. S., Parsons, J. L., Rude, B. J., Bissell, H. A. and Ouellette, J. R. (2011), Energy digestibility of giant pandas on bamboo-only and on supplemented diets. Zoo Biology, 30: 121–133.
Hansen, R. L., Carr, M. M., Apanavicius, C. J., Jiang, P., Bissell, H. A., Gocinski, B. L., Maury, F., Himmelreich, M., Beard, S., Ouellette, J. R. and Kouba, A. J. (2010), Seasonal shifts in giant panda feeding behavior: relationships to bamboo plant part consumption. Zoo Biology, 29: 470–483.
The Bald Eagle is at the top of it’s food chain as a tertiary consumer. It
life. The Kung have a fairly balanced diet of plants and animals but water is a
The major threat to their survival is the restricted and degraded habitats (Wang and Garshelis). Their habitat is not just one big area of land. In actuality, the Giant Panda’s habitat is fragmented and separated into small patches, each supporting a small population of the pandas. This fragmentation in habitat was caused by logging, deforestation, mining, poaching and by lightning speed economic development (Threats). Logging had been found to separate the once well integrated Giant Panda habitat into many sub sections (Zhou and Pan 363) and their forest habitats became increasingly fragmented by roads and railroads (Threats). Clearing the land in Giant Panda habitats had been another reason for the fragmentation of the Giant Panda’s habitat (Wang and Garshelis). The animal had been pushed higher and higher into the mountains, as their lower and flatter habitats were seized for human for agricultural activity (Wang and Garshelis). The small population due to the fragmentation is also a factor in the decrease in the population size. Studies have shown that small populations lead to a loss of genetic diversity and can lead to problems of inbreeding (Zhou and Pan
Gardner, Christopher. Notes from the Doc Talks. Stanford University. Web. April 10, 2014. Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York:
More reliable data can be obtained if more techniques are used to measure metabolic rate. By measuring the heat flow from an organism to its surroundings using a calorimeter, a more accurate metabolic rate can be measured (De V. Weir, 1949). The ratio of the quantity of food an animal consumes and the amount it excretes can also indicate the metabolic rate of that animal (Paradis et al., n.d.). Determining the water flux in animals with tritium labelled water is another valid method of measuring metabolic rates (Paradis et al., n.d.).
A food chain begins with the producers. Since plants get their energy from sunlight, they are producers; one of the common producers in the Sonoran Desert is the prickly pear cactus. Many different animals eat the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, including Harris's antelope squirrel. The squirrel is a consumer because it gets its energy from other organisms. In this case, the squirrel gets its energy from the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. The food chain starts with a producer, the prickly pear cactus, which obtains its energy from sunlight. The prickly pear is eaten by Harris's antelope squirrel, which, because it is the first consumer in the food chain, is called the primary consumer. The squirrel is eaten by the diamondback rattlesnake,
they are at the top of the food chain of the grassland plants and animals. Grizzly bears are powerful, top-of-the-food-chain predators, yet much of their diet consists of nuts, berries, fruit, leaves, and roots. Bears also
Loder, Natasha, Elizabeth Finkel, Craig Meisner, and Pamela Ronald. “The Problem of What to Eat.” Conservation Magazine. The Society for Conservative Biology, July-Sept. 2008. Web. 16 Dec. 2009.
buds, fruit, and flowers. They eat 50 species of plant but no animals. At the zoo, the
Pimental, David & Marcia. "Energy use in food processing for nutrition and development." Retrieved July 31, 2008, from http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/8f072e/8f072e06.htm
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The article addresses the ecological impact of palm oil plantation in Indonesia and Malaysia. The author conducts a descriptive study of how the increased demand for palm has impacted biodiversity especially indigenous animals such as orangutan. In order to assess the impact of palm oil plantation on orangutan’s habitat, the author conducted a literature review. The author notes that the need to expand land for palm oil expansion has negatively impacted the composition and the size of orangutan’s habitat. These findings imply that sustainable environmental policies and techniques need to be developed and implemented so as to mitigate the negative impact of the palm oil plantation of orangutan’s habitat.
While bamboo stalks and roots make up about 95 percent of its diet, the giant panda also feeds on fish and occasionally small rodents. It must eat 20 to 40 pounds of food each day to survive, and spends 10 to 16 hours a day feeding. Until recently, Washington DC's National Zoo housed Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, perhaps the most well ...
In 1891, a German zoologist named Karl Semper introduced the concept of a food chain, a process that is requisite for all living creatures. The chain consists of different levels. On the bottom are plants, then herbivores, the animals that eat plants. Next are carnivores, animals that eat other animal species, and the last are the animals that eat carnivores. The chain tends to overlap due to animals that eat more than one kind of food. Some people choose to be carnivores, while others choose to be herbivores due to the feeling that it is wrong to eat another living being. Humans are usually thought of as the superior animals on the Earth and living in modern society many nutritious foods are provided, especially meat. Some people choose to live herbivorous lifestyles due to moral and ethic reasoning, which can easily result in malnutrition as well as health risks that could have easily been avoided had they eaten carnivorously.
According to Price et al. (1985), estimated values of the total global food loss and waste to around one third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption, amounting to about 1.3 billion tonnes (1.28×109 long tons; 1.43×109 short tons) per year . In developing countries, like Ethiopia it is estimated that 400-500 calories per day per person are gainful