While giant pandas maybe one of the cutest zoo animals they also poop a lot leading researchers here to develop 'panda paper' souvenirs from their excrement.

Pandas mainly feed on bamboo and the fibre in their stool can be turned into a pulp to make a rough paper to produce 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. The dozens of pandas at the base produce 200 tons of stools a year. "If the stool can be used to make souvenirs, we will not only make a profits 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.

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

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

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2007)