Panda Poo Yields Key To Cheaper Biofuels

An anonymous reader writes "A new study unveiled at the American Chemical Society points to panda poop as a source of remarkably efficient enzyme-producing bacteria that are able to break down plant materials for cheaper and more efficient biofuel production. Inspired by the giant panda's voracious appetite for bamboo, scientists began to study the fecal matter of giant pandas at the Memphis Zoo. A year of samples indicated that the pandas have a unique ability to convert lignocellulose from plant matter into energy. In fact, gut bacteria of a giant panda can convert 95 percent of the plant's biomass into simple sugars."

Comments

Efficient my ass

[elrous0]

So, let me get this straight. A panda has to eat 85 lbs. of bamboo a day just to laze around on its fat ass, only waking up occasionally to stare blankly at zoo patrons like some kind of ursine retard? These are your super-efficient power plants?!? Come on, those pathetic creatures won't even reproduce without some zookeeper to show them where to put it and help them thrust. They're the Urkels of the bear world.

So either bamboo contains almost no energy, or pandas are expending a *lot* of energy somewhere behind our backs. Personally, I think someone should be digging through Grizzly shit. At least *they* have the energy to occasionally maul some back-to-nature hippie.

Re:Efficient my ass

[ByOhTek]

I'm... I'm having trouble with where to start here.

(1) Don't call them ursine retards. They are not ursine. Retard.
(2) Bamboo is not easy to digest for energy, as compared to a lot of other plants.
(3) Many animals need certain environment cues for mating, or they aren't interested. It has to do a lot with their native environment and what situations ensure optimal survival for the offspring and the mother. You might want to study this field called "evolution". It'll help explain this. We basically have trouble figuring out what these cues are. We really can't blame the pandas for that one.