Whether we're talking about animals or humans, gut microbes are essential for health, metabolism and protecting against infection. While captivity is known to alter the gut microbiota of wildlife, the relative influence of diet, genetics and environment has been unclear, especially for endangered species. A new study published in the journal PLOS One compared the gut microbes of wild and captive giant pandas, red pandas and Asiatic black bears and found that captivity has the biggest impact on their gut microbiome.