When they’re not making sweet love in the zoo or dodging poachers in the wild, giant pandas sit around and munch on bamboo. Their metabolic ability to take it easy has long baffled scientists.
除了在動(dòng)物園里交配以及在野外躲避偷獵者，大熊貓總是在無所事事地啃竹子，而它們那可以將竹子消化的代謝能力長(zhǎng)久以來一直困擾著科學(xué)家們。

Thanks to a study coming out of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and published in Science, we finally have some answers. For starters, giant pandas expend about 38 percent of the same energy as compared to other creatures of the same body mass. To maintain such a low metabolism, they do indeed move slowly. In the wild, pandas spend just half of their time in motion; when they forage, they average just 50 feet per hour. According to the study’s authors, that’s “very low.”
中國(guó)科學(xué)院刊載在科學(xué)雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究成果使我們有了些頭緒。首先，和相同體型的其他生物相比，大熊貓只需消耗其38%的熱量，而為了維持盡可能低的新陳代謝，它們確實(shí)是行動(dòng)緩慢。在野外，大熊貓只花一半的時(shí)間用于運(yùn)動(dòng)，當(dāng)它們覓食的時(shí)候，它們的平均速度只有每小時(shí)50英尺，研究負(fù)責(zé)人表示這個(gè)速度“非常慢”。

How’d they get their data? As Discovery reported:
那他們是怎么得到這些數(shù)據(jù)的呢？探索頻道曾有過報(bào)道：

The researchers followed five captive and three wild giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) for about a year. By using GPS trackers and analyzing chemicals excreted in the pandas’ poop, they were able to measure the amount of energy the pandas spent each day. Surprisingly, the pandas expended only about 38 percent of the energy that an animal with the same body mass would require.
研究員們跟蹤觀察了五只圈養(yǎng)大熊貓和三只野生大熊貓約一年時(shí)間，通過定位追蹤和分析熊貓糞便，他們得以估算出熊貓每天消耗的熱量總和。令人詫異的是，大熊貓只需消耗與它同等體型的動(dòng)物所需熱量的38%。

“We thought the metabolism of the panda would be low because the bamboo diet contains low energy,” said senior author Fuwen Wei, a professor of zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. “But it is very surprising that it is this exceptionally low, equal to the three-toed sloth, and much lower than the koala.”
“我們認(rèn)為熊貓的新陳代謝很低，因?yàn)橹褡又泻械臒崃亢苌?，”研究?fù)責(zé)人魏福文（音譯）說道，他是中國(guó)科學(xué)院動(dòng)物學(xué)的專家，“但是我們沒想到竟然會(huì)這么低，和三趾樹懶差不多，比考拉要低三分之二?！?/em>

In addition to highly evolved behavior, biology comes into play, too. Autopsies revealed low-energy wetware inside those big puffy bodies. Specifically, panda livers, kidneys and even their brains are smaller than those of other bears. This saves energy. Finally, their metabolic-managing thyroid hormones are also lower than those seen in other similarly sized mammals. According to the researchers, the levels were lower than even those in hibernating black bears.
除了熊貓自身高度進(jìn)化的行為以外，生物學(xué)也起了很大作用，研究員對(duì)熊貓的尸體進(jìn)行了研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)在它們龐大的身軀中濕件的耗能非常低，特別是它們的肝臟、腎、甚至它們的大腦都比其他熊要小，這樣就能節(jié)省熱量，因此它們體內(nèi)負(fù)責(zé)新陳代謝的甲狀腺激素也比其它同等體型的哺乳動(dòng)物要來的低，研究員說，這甚至比冬眠中的黑熊還要低。

So, in summary, pandas -- cute? Yes. Delicious? Maybe. Lazy and stupid? Definitely.
那么問題來了，熊貓萌嗎？當(dāng)然。好吃嗎？不好說。又傻又懶？這是肯定的。