Do Red Pandas Only Eat Bamboo? (Or do they eat something else)?

Red pandas mainly eat bamboo but in summer, fall and spring, they tend to vary their diet. And start eating liches, roots, flowers, grass, and leaves of the plants. They also like to eat berries, fruits, and mushrooms.

Red pandas are very cute animals that live in the higher mountains and live their whole life in the trees and eat the plants most of the time.

Most of the time you will find them jumping from one tree to another and this is what they do during the whole day.

Pandas belong to the Carnivora order of animals which means that originally, they used to eat meat and vegetables as well.

Animals in this order are descendants of ancient creatures with a primarily meat-based diet. Many retained characteristics of carnivores including sharp teeth meant for shredding through flesh and tearing meat.

There are a lot of animals like the red pandas that have adapted themselves according to the environment. They started adapting new things and especially red pandas have adapted to a specialized plant-based diet composed mainly of bamboo.

So, if we talk about a major part of their diet then you will come to know that Red Pandas are voracious bamboo eaters. Bamboo contains 90-95% of their diet. Daily they eat food that consists of 20-30% of their body weight.

Mostly red pandas eat around two to four pounds, or we can say around 1 to 2 kg of bamboo leaf tips and shoots. They have molars and large skulls which makes the chewing process easier.

They also have chewing muscles and strong jaws which makes the chewing process easy. One more thing to notice here is that they eat every part of the bamboo, unlike the giant pandas which only eat the tops and leaves of the bamboo.

So most of their diet consists of bamboo because they have adapted themselves to eating the bamboo. If you ever visit a zoo or any forest then you will see them eating the bamboo.

What Do Red Pandas Eat Other Than Bamboo?

Red pandas mostly eat bamboo and mostly they are good with it but in summers, fall and spring, they tend to vary their diet. They start eating the liches, roots, flowers, grass, and leaves of the plants. They also like to eat berries, fruits, and mushrooms.

Occasionally they eat meat in their diet but it’s not like raw meat. They like to eat meat in the form of eggs, birds, and insects.

They can also eat mice and rats in their diet. When the female red panda gets pregnant, it can eat small birds and lizards.

Is a Red Panda An Omnivore?

Although it has been seen that the giant pandas are omnivores, primarily the red pandas are herbivores, and they prefer to eat bamboo shoots and leaves as well.

It is because they have adapted themselves according to the environment and early age when meat was not available to eat then they started fulfilling their food requirement from the bamboo leaves and shoots which were enough to prove the sufficient nutrient requirement.

So primarily they were omnivores but if we talk about the red pandas, they are herbivores and prefer to eat the bamboo leaves.

Can a Red Panda Survive Without Bamboo?

If we talk about the unavailability of bamboo then it would be very difficult for the red pandas to live because the amount of nutrients bamboo leaves give to the red pandas, cannot be achieved from any other thing so it will be very hard for them to survive for red pandas.

They cannot rely on meat or any other thing.

Why Do Red Pandas Not Eat Meat?

Red pandas mostly spend 10- 13 hours a day searching and eating the bamboo leaves.

So, they like to stick with the bamboo diet which is easily available in the forests, and they can digest it accordingly.

Red Pandas tends not to find the meat tasty and their body does not accept a large amount of the meat. But occasionally they eat meat in their diet but it’s not like raw meat. They like to eat meat in the form of eggs, birds, and insects.

They can also eat mice and rats in their diet but it VERY rarely happens. When the female red panda gets pregnant, it can eat small birds and lizards.