Plan Your Visit to Edinburgh Zoo
We are open every day of the year, including Christmas Day, from 9am until:
| 6.00pm | April - Sept. |
| 5.00pm | Oct. & March |
| 4.30pm | Nov. - Feb. |
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Diet of Giant Pandas
What do giant pandas eat?
99% of their food is bamboo of various types. The other 1% consists of vegetables or meat.
How much bamboo does a giant panda consume per day?
They consume about 17kg of bamboo stems per day or 10 -14kg of bamboo leaves, or about 40kg of bamboo shoots.
What benefits do the giant pandas get from eating bamboo?
Giant pandas have evolved to live on a diet of mainly bamboo. Although bamboo has a low nutritive value, it is green all year round and easy to get. There are fewer food competitors in the bamboo forests than elsewhere. Therefore it provides a stable and abundant food supply at any time of the year.
Do the pandas get enough nutrition from just bamboo?
As the nutrition level of bamboo is low, giant pandas take four measures to meet their needs. The first is to eat bamboo in huge amounts. The second is to choose the best variety and plant part according to season. For instance, they take tender parts of the bamboo, which have more nutrition and less fibre when it is available. The third is to feed on the protein-rich remains of animal bodies left by other predators or small animals they have caught by themselves. The fourth is to reduce their energy consumption.
How will the Zoo supply the bamboo for two giant pandas?
99% of the giant panda’s diet is bamboo. They eat, on average, 17kg of bamboo stems a day or 10-14kg of bamboo leaves.
We plan to grow our own supply of bamboo within the grounds of Edinburgh Zoo. Depending on space available, we may have to hire land outwith the Zoo, or bring some in from external suppliers.