A Panda Having Lunch in Washington, DC
January 26, 2009 by Jon Rochetti
Filed under Home & Living
Location: National Zoological Park
Destination: Washington, DC
Country: United States
Year Taken: 2007
Photographer: Scott Ableman
Blog: Presidents Race: Let Teddy Win!
Tian Tian, a resident panda at the National Zoo in Washington, DC enjoys his lunch of bamboo. Giant pandas in the wild eat almost exclusively bamboo, but in captivity, they their diet is supplemented with fruits and vegetables. Adult pandas can consume more than 50 pounds of bamboo each day.
This eleven year old was born in China and is one of four at the zoo, that are on loan until at least 2010.
Giant pandas, are actually part of the bear family, and are accustomed to the cooler summers and snowy winters of the mountains of central China. So coping with Washington, DC winters are not an issue, but the humid summers can create an issue. So the zoo installed air-conditioning and mist sprayers to keep their outdoor enclosure cooler.
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Image – Flickr, panda
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