looks can be deceiving. This aphorism applies in the animal kingdom as much as anywhere.

In the forest, that twig over there might actually be a stick insect. In the ocean, that patch of

sand could be a flatfish. The harmless, impotent milk snake looks just like one of the most

poisonous animals on earth, the coral snake. Numerous animals puff up their fur or feathers to make

themselves seem larger than they are. And creatures such as moths and damselfish have spots on their bodies

that look like eyes to make predators think that they can be seen. Looks can be deceiving. The giant panda

looks ready for war. They can carry up to 330 pounds of muscle. They have huge jaws with massive canines. They are three

feet tall at the shoulder when they are on all fours. They're up to six feet long, nose to tail.

Their woolly coat accentuates their size, but even if they were bald, these animals would look huge, big, bulky, dangerous.

They look like the apex predator.

Their cousins are almost all apex predators. The panda is a member of the order carnivora. That's the order that boasts lions, tigers, and bears, and wolves,

and hyenas, and jaguars too. Oh my, right?

But the panda bear's lifestyle isn't comparable to that of lions,

or even that of their fellow bears, no.

Giant pandas are on the same trophic level as antelope and deer and cows. They're in the plant eater bracket.

They eat bamboo all day, up to 16 hours of eating. Research suggests that they even wake

up in the middle of the night just to pack in a little bit more. Over 20 pounds of bamboo

a day, sometimes as much as 80 pounds. Why the big

servings? Well, if you're going to eat bamboo, you have to eat that much of it because bamboo

has almost no nutritional value. And it doesn't help that they have the digestive system of a carnivore.

Pandas don't have a chambered stomach, like a cow or an antelope or a deer.

They have one stomach, and it's simple.

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