not even to V or not even V-ing

[norwolf]

Hi, teachers. I wonder if the following sentence is good English:
Chinese scientist recently had a chance to study a wild female panda with a newborn baby. She was a very careful mother. For 25 days, she never left her baby, not even to find something to eat.

To my ear, the last phrase should be this: not even looking for something to eat.

Is it better?
Thank you very much.

 

[Rover_KE]

Did you write these sentences, norwolf? If not, where did you read them?

The last phrase needs no amendment.

 

[norwolf]

I quoted the orginal from a test paper, Rover. But I felt uncomfortable.
How can we express the meaning in good English, please?

 

[norwolf]

"not even to find something to eat" means "even in order to find something to eat, she did not leave her baby." This sounds weird to my ear, because the mother panda, at that moment, did not look for it, but just had the intention.
"not even looking for something to eat" means "she kept taking her baby with herself even while she was looking for something to eat." This conforms to the context.
Does my understanding have any mistakes? If any, would your native teachers point them out, please?

 

[GoesStation]

The infinitive form is more natural. It says she never left her baby to relieve herself, to smoke a cigarette, or for any other purpose.