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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."
Wow, forget this news story. The real news story is that there is a hardcore fundamentalist anti-panda faction in existence.
Agreed, I think the speed with which bamboo grows is really key here, and if this offers a better way of harvesting it as a biofuel then great.
For those who aren't aware, bamboo has very high oil content and, given the right conditions, some species can grow literally upto a metre per day. That's much better than many other plant species harvested for biofuel!
some species can grow literally upto a metre per day
While that's accurate, I think it would be misleading to allow it to stand without comment. Bamboo gather energy during the year and store it in their rhizomes. Then they use that energy during the growing season to sprout new shoots. It's these new shoots which may grow that quickly, but only during that season. Any culms from previous years are stuck at whatever height they grew to during their growing year.
What I've said is true of the seven species that I own. Of course there are hundreds of species, so others may exhibit other habits.
I don't own any panda, so I don't have any personal knowledge of their habits, but my understanding is that they eat bamboo leaves. It's the culms that may grow so quickly.
~Loyal
I aim to misbehave.
The conservatives are partially correct. In the habitats we offer them Pandas are completely incapable of surviving without human assistance. They require insanely huge bamboo forests to sustain their pathetically wasteful lifestyle and slow reproduction.
But humans at least reduced those huge forests down to a point where they couldn't sustain a panda population, so IMO it's our responsibility to to keep them from going extinct.
It's like if a race of super-intelligent sea creatures flooded the earth except for a few microscopic little islands and found that humans couldn't survive on them or thrive in little under-water biodomes, then the conservative aqua-people argued that humans should just be allowed to go extinct since they're so sucky at surviving despite the best efforts by the aqua-people.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
#1) was incorrect on #1.
#2) has everything to to do with evolution, and not intelligence - if there is a food source however inefficient, and little competition for it, something will make use of that source. In fact, it can be argued that is the smart option (you have to eat more, but hey, you don't have to fight others for it)
#3) That's only true regarding creatures which don't put a lot of energy into their young, and that tend to have large litters. Panda don't fall into either category. A large number of species don't mate all the time. Humans and rodents are the most obvious exceptions to this.
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Can they poop dark matter? Didn't think so.
When I read "Panda Poo" I thought this submission was about an upcoming version of Ubuntu.