Giant pandas are some of the cutest zoo animals, and now their waste may be just as adorable after researchers work to develop 'panda paper' souvenirs from their excrement.

 

Pandas mainly feed on bamboo and the fiber in their stool can be turned into a pulp to make a rough paper for greeting cards, bookmarks, notebooks, and even fridge magnets, say researchers with the Chengdu giant panda breeding base.

 

 

An adult panda can produce 20 kilograms of excrement a day, and the dozens of pandas at the base alone produce 200 tons of stools each year. "If the stool can be used to make souvenirs, we will not only make a profit but also help the environment," said Liao Jun, a researcher at the base.

 

Thailand's Chiengmai Zoo appears to have been the first to produce panda paper from the animal's waste, earning the zoo a profit of 60,000 yuan (about US$7,500).

 

The Chengdu panda base is now negotiating with several paper mills to produce panda paper.

 

Giant pandas are only found in China where an estimated 1,590 still live in the wild, mostly in the provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and hundreds more live in zoos around the world.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)