| MadSci Network: Zoology |
Dear Mel, After looking at a number of reference books on pandas, I'm afraid I don't have a definitive list for you, but here's a summary of what I found. The tricky issue here is the fact that experts don't seem to agree on bamboo classifications. This makes it hard for them to agree on lists of species eaten by pandas. Here's what I found: *Fargesia robusta (umbrella bamboo) *Phyllostachys bambusoides (giant timber bamboo) *Phyllostachys nigra (black-stemmed Whangee cane) *other Phyllostachys species (some say there are over 50, but this reference didn't mention which are/may be eaten by pandas) *Gelidocalamus fangianus (arrow bamboo) *Fargesia nitida (sword bamboo) *Yushania chungii (stone bamboo, severely depleted due to agriculture) *Fargesia denudata *Fargesia scabrida *Fargesia aurita (known stand seems to have died, according to one reference) *Bashania fargesii *Chimonobambusa szechuanensis *Qiongzhuea tumidiroda *Qiongzhuea opienensis *Indocalamus longiauritus (this information all came from the book Pandas, by Chris Catton, 1990) The Giant Pandas of Wolong, by George B. Schaller, Hu Jinchu, Pan Wenshi, and Zhu Jing, 1985 also lists: *Fargesia spathacea I honestly don't know which other species are eaten by pandas, but I'm not sure researchers know either. Panda habitat is pretty hard to maneouver in, and there are so few left to observe. Keep asking good questions, and enjoy the following panda web sites I've found: http://www.bearden.org http://www.panda.org/resources/factsheets/species/frame.htm?fct_panda .htm Best regards, Ruth
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