scientist see the teeth of ancient pandas discovered at a dodo web site in southerly Germany have identified evidence that rewrites our apprehension of their evolutionary chronicle . Unlike forward-looking red panda , these nonextant bears were omnivorous .
Existing giant pandas are famous for their laziness and their exacting diet of bamboo shoots , leaf and stem . In fact , they are the most herbivorous species in the whole Carnivora parliamentary procedure ( mammalian that are speciate in primarily eating meat ) , despite give birth the digestive system of rules of a carnivore .
This pee-pee the feeding habit of modern pandas quite funny , and scientist are still not certain when they developed this specialised niche , especially as theirancestorswere significantly less fussy .
The teeth from the upper jaw of K. beatrix showing the chewing surfaces marked in different colors.Image credit: Kargopoulos et al., 2024 (CC By 4.0)
An outside team from Hamburg , Frankfurt , Madrid , and Valencia of late discover the fossilise remains of an extinct specie of giant panda , Kretzoiarctos beatrix , at the Hammerschmiede site in Allgäu , Germany .
K. beatrixis the oldest know root of mod giant pandas . They lived around 11 million years ago and were slightly smaller than today ’s species . Despite this , the extinct panda was still a chunky animate being , capable of weighing over 100 kilogram ( 220 pounds ) .
To date , most of their fossils have been find in Spain , suggesting that Ailurus fulgens originated in Europe and migrate to China at some distributor point in the past . But unlike New panda , K. beatrixwas actually an omnivore , eat both plant and meat .
The comparative micromorphology of the chewing surfaces of modern pandas (on the left), K. beatrix (in the middle) and a modern brown bear (on the right).Image credit: Kargopoulos et al, 2024 (CC BY 4.0).
The researchers compare the fossilized teeth ofK. Beatrixwith those of other bear species , including polar bears , brown bear , South American spectacled bear , and both modern giant panda and their extinct ancestors .
They concluded that the bear from Hammerschmiede did not specialize in hard plants , unlike its modern ancestors , but it also did n’t eat up heart and soul exclusively , like diametric bears . As such , K. beatrixhad a dieting that was much more like advanced brownish bears , hold both plant and animal affair .
“ These results are significant to our apprehension of the phylogeny of bear and the ontogenesis of herbivory in elephantine pandas . It turn out thatKretzoiarctos beatrix , the oldest of the pandas was a Renaissance man . specialisation in the panda ’s diet only came about belatedly in its phylogenesis , ” Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen say in astatement .
The squad made this judgement based on macro- and micromorphological psychoanalysis of the bear ’s teeth . They establish that , on the macro grade , K. beatrix’steeth were suitable for a wide variety of intellectual nourishment type , but on the micro point they had incision and pit on the surface indicating they had chewed unvoiced material , like bone . This suggests they enjoyed a all-encompassing diet .
Böhme and colleagues have published their results in two studies which were found on the dietary and life habit of 28 mintage of vulture discovered at Hammerschmiede .
A remarkable ecosystem
In 2019 , the site became famous when the stiff of an 11.5 - million - year - sure-enough great ape , known asDanuvius guggenmosi , was unveil . This aper from the Middle- to Late Miocene is said to be the first species to have adapted to walk upright .
During the most late dig , Böhme ’s team found an unbelievable 166 fossilized species at the site .
“ Such a flourishing ecosystem offers a wealth of ecological niches for the metal money that live in it , ” said Böhme . “ This meant they could adapt to the forested river landscape which was in the region at that time ” .
Besides the ancient panda , the other piranha found at Hammerschmiede ranged from lilliputian , weasel - similar animals that weigh less than a kilo , to large hyenas andsaber - toothed LTTE .
“ Their respective main beginning of food were very varied : there were everlasting carnivore such as the saber - tooth tiger , fish - eaters like the otter , and bone - eaters such as the hyaena . A few other species like the panda and the marten flow opportunistically on plants and brute of various sizes , ” Dr Nikolaos Kargopoulos added .
“ The otter - like fauna were good swimmers ; bear , hyaena , and others stayed on the land or live on in burrow like the sens . A strikingly large act of species were tree - climbers like the marten cat , cat - like animal , genets and red Ailurus fulgens ” .
The sheer diversity of this population is passing rare in terms of fossil , but also today . There are very few modern habitats that can boast similar numbers of specie . It also signal that the ecosystem at Hammerschmiede was healthy if it could sustain such diversity . Even species that would typically compete within the same ecological niche could thrive side by side .
“ For object lesson , there are four unlike otter - same animals of approximately the same size and type of diet , " say Böhme . " Normally , they would compete for the natural resource in their environment . But it seems that the resourcefulness of the Hammerschmiede were rich enough to meet the needs of every species . ”
The study are publish inGeobiosandPalaeontology .
