X, good for Scrabble, crossword puzzles, and xylophagous

ABC Wednesday

Note: I was going to write about xeriscaping, which is what Dick and I should do in our large yard in the desert part of Canada’s prairie, where cacti grow wild. We really should, but it would be very uncomfortable for our dog Lindy to have a yard like this:

So I decided to go with this X word:  

xy·loph·a·gous (zī-lŏfˈə-gəs)

It is an adjective, meaning:

1. Feeding on wood, as certain insects or insect larvae.
2. Destructive to wood, as certain crustaceans or fungi.

Wikipedia says many insects, or their larvae, and a large number of polyplacophorans (in great depths in the world’s oceans) are xylophagous. 

HOWEVER, I chose the word xylophagous because one of my favorite animals is on this list. No, not bark beetles or even gribbles, but yes, I love instead the Giant Panda. 

(Gribbles aren’t as cute, are only 1/16 inch long, and I haven't taken any photos of them. Wikipedia has a picture, if you want to look at gribbles, but I’m posting pandas.)

Examples of wood-eating animals

Bark beetles, horntails, termites, Giant Panda, panaque catfish, gribbles, shipworms

SO here is my excuse to post PANDA PICTURES (roar of the crowd, deafening applause, and drum roll) on ABC Wednesday's X day! Yay!

Here they are, ladies and gentlemen, the cutest xylophagous animals in Xistence (and threatened with Xtinction) ... GIANT ... PANDAS ... (more applause) from our visit to the San Diego Zoo several years ago.

Above, Su Lin in a tree, which is where young pandas stay in order to be safe from predators while their mothers are out gathering and eating bamboo.

Because the San Diego Zoo pandas have their bamboo pre-gathered by their staff, Su Lin's mother, Bai Yun, is sleeping (right).


We don't eat much bamboo ourselves, so we went to a restaurant farther up in the zoo complex, and from our table we could see Su Lin was still in her tree (below).

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear

 Su Lin's daddy, Gao Gao, likes to show off for the tourists, but mostly (see below) he likes eating the wood and leaves of the bamboo tree.
He's a xylophagus mammal, big time!

Posted for the letter X in the ABC Wednesday meme.
How have others around the world dealt with X? To find out, click
HERE