What non-bamboo foods do Giant pandas eat?
Other plants that Giant pandas sometimes eat include farm crops such as corn stems and needle-free wheat; wild fruits such as kiwi fruit and wild loquats; herbs such as Chinese angelica and celery. When large areas of bamboo die out after blossom, due to severe food shortage and acute sense of hunger, Giant pandas even feed on Notoptergium incisium, barks of Abies and decayed wood. Some roam onto farmland to eat pig feed or human manure. Non-plant foods which are sometimes eaten include corpses of animals killed by traps or by other animals like leopards, small animals preyed by themselves such as bamboo rats and birds, or even domestic goats. Sometimes they eat charcoal in the woods or lick and bite metal-ware in the village. Giant pandas are mentioned as “iron-eating beast” and recorded eating iron or copper by many ancient books.
