Pandas’ gut bacteria resemble carnivores’
Unlike other vegetarians, the bamboo eaters lack plant-digesting microbes
![pandas eating](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/mr_pandas_free.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
FOOD ISSUES Since adopting a bamboo diet around 2 million years ago, giant pandas still haven’t fully adapted to the fibrous food: Their guts don’t harbor the plant-degrading bacteria typical of other herbivores.
Chi King/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)