The discovery of panda fossil remains in China has helped researchers unravel the mystery of how the giant species evolved. A ‘false thumb’ on his limbs and thus became the only vegetarian bear.
The approximately six-million-year-old fossils found in southwestern China’s Yunnan province include a highly enlarged wrist bone called a radial sesamoid. This bone is the earliest known evidence of a ‘false thumb’ of the modern giant panda. allows you to grab and break heavy bamboo stemsAccording to the published article Scientific Reports.
The fossils belong to an ancient relative of the now-extinct panda bear named Ailurarcto, which lived in China six or eight million years ago.
“The giant panda is a rare large carnivore with a short carnivorous digestive tract that becomes a herbivoresaid Wang Xiaoming, head of vertebrate paleontology at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.
“The false thumb in Ailurractos shows for the first time the likely time that bamboo feeding evolved in pandas,” he added.
Researchers have known for a century that the panda’s false thumb works similarly to the human thumb, helping to grasp certain objects. But the lack of fossil evidence left unanswered questions about how and when. developed this extra toe that no other bear has.
“While the giant panda’s false thumb is not the most graceful or dexterous, Even a small bump like this one sticking to your wrist can help keep the bamboo from slipping off your fingers.Wrote Wang.
Fossils found near the city of Zhaotong, north of Yunnan, contained a false thumb that was longer than that found in modern pandas, but without an inward “hook” at the end.
This hook and the fleshy pad at the base of the thumb evolved over time as it had to “bear the brunt of significant body weight,” he added, referring to the high mass of adult bears.
Millions of years ago, pandas traded their ancestors’ protein-rich, omnivorous diets for bamboo.It is low in nutrients and available year-round in southern China.
They eat up to 15 hours a day and An adult panda can consume up to 45 kg of bamboo per day.. Although their diet is primarily vegetarian, wild pandas are known to occasionally hunt small animals.
Reference work: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13402-y
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