Panda Cartoon: The Iron-Eating Beast

The giant panda is a national treasure of China, beloved for its black-and-white fur and adorable appearance. Despite their cute looks, pandas are known to be quite assertive, and in ancient times, they had an assertive nickname, "iron-eating beast." But how did they get this nickname, and do pandas really eat iron?

Of course, pandas don't actually eat iron. They primarily eat bamboo, accounting for 99% of their diet. From the cartoon above, we can see that the nickname "iron-eating beast" came about because pandas couldn't find food in the wild, so they would enter villages to forage for food. This sometimes involved licking cookware and even damaging pots with their powerful teeth, which led to the nickname. It's not that they couldn't find food, but rather, they couldn't find salt to supplement their diet. So, they would enter villagers' homes and lick the remaining salt from iron pots. The villagers misunderstood their behavior, thinking they were eating iron.

This little story reflects the panda's need for salt. Giant pandas are omnivores, and in addition to bamboo, they eat grass, wild fruits, insects, bamboo rats, and small animals. However, bamboo has a very low salt content, so pandas need to supplement their diet with salt from other sources. In their natural habitat, they would lick salt-rich soil or rocks, while in human-inhabited areas, they may lick iron utensils or other items. This behavior doesn't indicate an intention to damage metal objects; they are simply seeking salt or other flavors. It also shows that pandas have strong jaws and sharp teeth, although they don't intentionally destroy metal objects.