A new research has unveiled that pandas are quite less active than other bears. Researchers in China have in fact compared the giant pandas with slow-moving sloths. It now could be understood as to why pandas are able to survive on their diet of just bamboo.

The researchers have based their findings on captive pandas and three wild ones. Five captive pandas at Beijing Zoo and three wild ones at Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi province were tracked. It was found that bear use just 38% of the average daily energy of other bears.

The researchers said, "The daily energy expenditure values for giant pandas are substantially lower than those for koalas, for example, and more akin to those of three-toed sloths".

Pandas are majorly found in China. In the wild, pandas have bamboos. Researchers have always wonders as to how pandas survive on their diet comprising of just bamboos. But it has been suspected that they were able to do so by using very less energy.

The researchers attached GPS loggers to pandas and through them, the researchers came to know that pandas do nothing but take rest for more than half the day and travel at 20 metres an hour. It has also been found that the metabolic rate of active pandas remain slower than a complete stationary human. Pandas' low metabolism was related with very low levels of their thyroid hormones.