【双语】你好！中国 | 为何熊猫圆滚滚，他们是真的胖吗？

大家对大熊猫的印象，总是“圆滚滚”“胖嘟嘟”的。那么大熊猫到底是真胖还是“虚胖”？事实上，大熊猫圆滚滚胖乎乎，既不是真胖也不是虚胖，而是……显胖！

People always think of giant pandas as "round" and "chubby". So, are giant pandas really fat or just "apparently fat"? In fact, giant pandas appear round and chubby, but they are neither truly fat nor apparently fat; they just look fat!

因为大熊猫的毛发丰厚，使得整个身体显得非常肥胖。但是，实际上大熊猫并不是实心胖，而是“显胖”哦~科学研究发现，大熊猫的皮下脂肪其实不多，它们看上去胖主要是由于骨架大、肌肉多。

This is because the thick fur of giant pandas makes their bodies look very fat. However, in reality, giant pandas are not solidly fat but appear fat. Scientific research has found that giant pandas have very little subcutaneous fat, and their apparent fatness is mainly due to their large skeletal structure and well-developed muscles.

大熊猫每天一般的时间都是在吃，通常情况下平均每天移动距离不超过500米，吃得多动得又少怎么会不胖呢？那是因为在大熊猫食谱中占据重要地位的竹子其实热量很低。并且，大熊猫作为食肉目动物，他们的短肠道并不适合消化竹子，竹子中营养转化率很低，大约为17%。因此，大熊猫每天从主食——竹子上摄入的热量其实仅仅能够满足日常所需，基本没有剩余的能量转化成脂肪。

Giant pandas spend most of their time eating, typically moving less than 500 meters each day. With such a diet and minimal movement, how could they not be fat? That's because the bamboo, which makes up a significant part of the giant panda's diet, is actually low in calories. Moreover, as carnivores, giant pandas have short intestines that are not suited for digesting bamboo. The nutritional conversion rate of bamboo is very low, approximately 17%. Therefore, the calories that giant pandas intake from their staple food, bamboo, are just enough to meet their daily needs, leaving almost no surplus energy to be converted into fat.

责编：易卓