PANDAS

Pandas are an old species. Old in this sense means more than 5 million years old, and pandas are reckoned to be around 8 million years old. However, they have changed markedly during that time. They used to be carnivorous, but are now almost wholly herbivorous, eating just bamboo.

They are also pretty useless. There are lots of different types of bamboo, but pandas are picky, eating just one of them. Their digestive systems mean that they can only extract about 20% of the bamboo's nutrition, making it imperative that they don't exert themselves too much (one reason why they sleep so much). They are hopeless at reproducing, being not very interested in mating and giving birth to babies, which are essentially premature. Many panda mothers lack a maternal instinct, meaning that they reject their offspring. And so on.

The one thing that pandas have going for them is that they look really cute, appealing to human emotions and leading us to protect them. Indeed, if it weren't for humans, pandas would probably be extinct by now.

When in Chengdu, I visited the national panda research and breeding institute. It was morning, so the pandas were fairly active, meaning that they were eating their fresh bamboo, specially brought in from the mountains. Then they rolled onto their backs or climbed into a tree and went to sleep. As I say, cute but useless.

Walter Blotscher