Pandas seem to have been eating bamboo for a long time but they almost certainly descend from omnivores. An early panda fossil (Ailuropoda microta) lived 2 to 2.4 Million years ago in South China. read more
An early panda fossil (Ailuropoda microta) lived 2 to 2.4 Million years ago in South China. Since its teeth and skull are similar to that of modern pandas, it probably ate the same things modern pandas ate. In these pictures, the middle skull and teeth belong to the fossil (the first skull of the earliest giant panda). read more
Pseudogenization of the umami taste receptor gene Tas1r1 in the giant panda coincided with its dietary switch to bamboo. “Although it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a vegetarian with 99% of its diet being bamboo. read more
The oldest known ancestor of the giant panda lineage (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) lived about 11.6 million years ago in what is now Spain. Credit: SINC All giant pandas may come from China, but fossils reveal that the oldest known ancestor of the lineage dwelled in Spain, researchers say. read more