We are all bears, why do only giant pandas not need to hibernate?

The giant panda is our national treasure, and it looks cute, chubby, and quite lovable. But have you ever thought that since the giant panda is also a bear, why doesn't it hibernate?

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Bear hibernation is indeed an interesting topic. For example, when black bears hibernate, they do not eat, drink, urinate or defecate , and their body temperature drops to 32 to 33 degrees Celsius. They can wake up at any time when disturbed. What's more interesting is that bears will also raise their offspring during hibernation . The ability to wake up at any time is different from what we think. Some scholars believe that this phenomenon of bears is a winter sleep phenomenon of carnivores and cannot be considered true hibernation.

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So what magical abilities do giant pandas, which don’t hibernate, use to survive the winter?

First of all, the energy consumption of giant pandas is relatively low . When they move in the wild, they are always slow and lazy. In order to reduce consumption, even some of the energy-consuming organs of giant pandas, such as the brain, liver, and kidneys, are relatively small .

And we know that giant pandas mainly eat bamboo, but in fact their utilization rate of bamboo is very low, and food stays in the digestive tract for a very short time, so they have a large appetite every day, eating 10 to 20 kilograms of bamboo a day.

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At this point, the reason why giant pandas don't hibernate is quite obvious. They have to eat constantly every day, and their energy demand and consumption are relatively low. These survival strategies together determine their characteristic of not hibernating .

Reviewer: Huang Chengming, Researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences