Where is the origin of pandas?

The birthplace of pandas is Baoxing County. Baoxing County is located in the northwest of Sichuan, China, where mountains overlap, streams and springs are sweet, trees are towering, and the four seasons are pleasant. It is in the transition zone from the basin to the plateau and mountains. It contains nearly a quarter of the animal species in China, many of which are rare birds and animals.

During his residence in China from 1862 to 1874, Armand David, a French missionary, learned that there were many kinds of animals in Baoxing, Sichuan, and some of them were rare and unknown, so he arrived in Baoxing from Shanghai and served as the fourth generation priest of Dunchigou Church in Muping Donghe.

Panda

In the spring of p>1869, David passed a family named Li on the way. Suddenly, a strange black and white animal skin hanging on the wall attracted David deeply. The owner told him that the local people call this animal "white bear", "flower bear" or "bamboo bear". It is very docile and generally does not hurt people.

Panda

David is very excited. He estimates that this animal "will be an interesting new species in science", and this discovery will fill a gap in world animal research. In order to get this strange animal, David hired 2 local hunters to search for it. On March 23, the hunters sent the first little "white bear", but unfortunately they killed it for convenience.

Panda

Extended information

"The ancestors of giant pandas came from Western Europe!" German mainstream newspaper Le Monde reported with a headline on the 15th that Spanish archaeologists recently discovered the tooth fossils of ancient relatives of giant pandas. This discovery may prove that the giant panda originated in Europe, not China.

The report said that a Spanish archaeological team composed of paleontologist Euan Abela of the National Museum of Natural Science of Spain recently discovered some teeth fossils of primitive bears 11.6 million years ago in Catalonia, Spain. They published the above findings in PLOSONE, a comprehensive American journal with wide influence.

Archaeologists said that from the information about this species obtained from tooth fossils, this primitive bear is related to the present giant panda. It belongs to Xiong Ke animals, more precisely, a branch of the giant panda family. Primitive bears have similar living habits to giant pandas and are strict vegetarians. It can bite hard food, mainly bamboo.

However, because archaeologists have only found a few tooth fossils, it is impossible to reconstruct the overall shape of this primitive bear. But they guessed that it should be similar in shape to the giant panda, with dark fur and a small amount of white spots on the shoulders, eyes and near the tail. They have a small range of movement and may climb trees to avoid the attack of large carnivores.

The report also said that the "new discovery" would deny the origin time of the giant panda. According to archaeologists, the new species discovered this time is the oldest known species in the panda subfamily, which has been developing continuously since 2 million years ago, and the giant panda belongs to the panda subfamily.