Opening fossils ancestor panda in China allowed researchers to unravel the mystery of the mammal’s “sixth finger”, which allows it to grasp bamboo stalks, which make up the bulk of its diet.
fossilsabout six million years old were discovered in Yunnan province in southwest China. China. Between them is a particularly large carpal bone called the radial sesamoid.
lost fossil
This is the oldest proof of the existence of the “sixth finger” in panda giant, which allowed him to grab and break thick bamboo stalks, the researchers note in the latest issue of the journal Scientific reports.
These fossils belong to a panda ancestor named Ailurarctos, now extinct, who lived in China six to eight million years ago.
” panda A giant is… a rare case where a large predator… becomes a herbivore,” said Wang Xiaoming, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.
Ailurarctos’ ‘false thumb’ shows for the first time (…) the chronology and likely stages in the evolution of panda feeding on bamboo,” he added.
Although the existence of the “false thumb” has been known to researchers for about a century, the fossil evidence for this bone sheds light on several long-unanswered questions, including how and when this extra finger, which humans don’t have, appeared. no other bear.
Millions of years ago pandas swapped their ancestors’ protein-rich, omnivorous diet for the nutrient-poor bamboo available year-round in the south China.
pandas eat up to 15 hours a day and panda an adult can consume 45 kg of bamboo per day. Although their diet is primarily vegetarian, giant pandas have been known to occasionally prey on small animals. (AFP)
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I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.