Pandas are adored, but equally mocked as poorly adapted, evolutionary dead-ends. But while it might seem like they just loll around and eat bamboo all day, as Li put it, "the 'laziness' of pandas is ...

Bao Li and Qing Bao, two giant pandas, are making their public debut at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute on Jan. 24, 2025.

Panda poop reveals this too: researchers on the study found it contained pieces of undigested bamboo. ... The ancestors of giant pandas competed fiercely with other carnivores," Li said.