Why are pandas black and white?

A few days ago, American researchers published a paper in the new online edition of Behavioral Ecology. The black and white color of giant pandas has two functions: camouflage and communication.

Tim Carroll, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who led the research, said that a long-standing problem in biology is how to understand the black and white of giant pandas. This question is not easy to answer, because other mammals don't look like this, so it is difficult to explain by analogy.

Researchers from this school and California State University, Long Beach, divided the giant panda's body into different regions according to the color of its fur, and compared it with dogs, cats, bears, etc. 195 carnivores and 39 subspecies of Xiong Ke animals to find the correlation and determine its function.

By comparison, the researchers found that the giant panda's face, neck, belly and ass are white, because it can help them hide in snowy habitats; Limbs are black because they can help them hide themselves in the shadows.

Researchers believe that giant pandas grow up like this because of their weak digestive ability and can only eat bamboo instead of plants. They can't store excess fat in winter to hibernate like some bears. They must be active all year round and travel long distances in search of food. Their habitats vary greatly, from snow-capped mountains to tropical forests.

But the color matching of the giant panda's head is not for camouflage to avoid predators, but for communication. Their black ears express a "fierce" feeling and can warn predators; Dark circles can help people of the same kind get to know each other or warn competitors of the same kind.