6 million years ago, the giant panda started eating bamboo

Figures of the Institute of Ancient Human Research Institute of Panda Ecological Restoration of Panda Ecological Restoration of Zhaotong Revision of Yunnan

【Technological frontier】

Our newspaper, Beijing, July 1 (Reporter Qi Fang) Grand Panda was originally a fierce carnivore. When did it become a cute treasure that loves bamboo? Paramranologists studied the sixth finger of the Panda, namely the "pseudo -thumb", and the results showed that the habit of eating bamboo for pandas began at least 7 million to 6 million years ago.

This achievement is a guest researcher at the Institute of Ancient Spine Animals and the Institute of Ancient Human Research (hereinafter referred to as the "Ancient Spirit Institute") and researcher at Los Angeles Natural History Museum, Wang Xiaoming, Researcher Deng Tao of the Institute of Ancient Spine Completed, the paper was published recently on the international academic journal "Scientific Reports".

In order to eat bamboo, giant pandas have evolved a lot of "unique skills", and pseudo -thumbs are one of them -except for most of the normal fingers on the forelop of most mammals, giant pandas have a strong increase in wrist bones , That is, radial seed bone, act as the sixth finger, forms a "thumb" that can be gripped to grab the bamboo. Studies have shown that the humble pseudo -thumbs of panda are difficult to collect common omn -raw materials of Bear family, such as seeds, nuts, berries, and even dwarf grass, which indicates that the only target of the increased radial seed bone is bamboo, pseudo -pseudo -pseudo -pseudo -pseudo -pseudo The thumb is the key adaptation of effective collection of bamboo in the panda spectrum.

So when did the pseudo thumb evolved?

In 2015, Deng Tao and Jixue were equal to the pseudo -thumbs and molars fossils in the Sino -New World Site of the Tangba Night New World. This is the earliest foundation of Panda pseudo -fossils found so far.

The previous research combined with paleontologists believes that this pseudo -thumb is the intermediate form of pseudo -pyramid pseudo -thumb -at this time. At this time, the beginning of the panda has an enlarged radial seed bone and formed the "thumb" function of the pair of pairs. Essence The study of molars fossils shows that the form of panda's teeth has reached the complexity of modern giant pandas and even more complicated. Combined with the two, paleontologists believe that the beginning of panda has begun to eat bamboo -this humble "thumb" indicates that the habit of eating bamboo from 7 million to 6 million years ago originally originated.

However, the pseudo -thumb of the panda is longer than the pseudo -thumb of the giant panda, and there is no fine hook like the giant panda at the end. So, why hasn't the pseudo -thumbs in the panda been further increased since the late Chinese New World? Analysis of paleontologists believes that there may be two reasons: First, the bamboo in the giant panda habitat is very rich, and it can be said that it can be obtained at hand. Therefore, the pseudo -pseudo -thumbs only need to twist and pull a few or several bamboo, and it does not require too long to grab more numbers of bamboo. Another more important reason is to take into account the load -bearing function when walking. The obese bears are walking in a mandarin, that is, when walking and the rear feet when they walk. The strong extended radial seed bone will protrude from the palm surface, which will interfere with walking. In layman's terms, it will be stabbed. Deng Tao said: "The restrictions on the weight of the weight may be the main reason why the pseudo -thumb of the panda has never evolved into a complete finger."

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