Useful Information Collection | How to Scientifically Distinguish Giant Pandas? (Except "Huahua")

Eat, sleep, climb trees, roll around

Just a few simple actions

It will allow countless tourists

Spend hours on them

Giant panda "Menglan" Image source: Internet

In China

Perhaps only giant pandas can have such charm

Giant panda "Menglan" Photo source: Weibo picture

Since ancient times, giant pandas have been a rare mammal in my country, and are deeply loved by people in China and around the world. Recently, the pandas "He Hua" have become popular on the Internet, becoming the new "top star" in the panda world. The reason why Hua Hua is so popular is not only because of his cuteness as a panda, but also because he is so recognizable.

Compared with other giant pandas, Huahua is short and fat. When sitting, his big head squeezes his neck, making him look like an equilateral triangle without a neck. Therefore, he can easily catch your attention among a group of "copy and paste" giant pandas.

Giant panda "Huahua" Image source: Internet

However, apart from the "special case" Huahua, how can we distinguish other giant pandas?

The giant panda belongs to the genus Ailuropoda of the family Ailuropoda in the order Carnivora. There are only two subspecies existing under it, namely the nominate subspecies of giant panda and the Qinling subspecies of giant panda. The former is the Sichuan giant panda that most people are familiar with, and the latter is the Qinling giant panda that only exists in the Qinling Mountains.

At present, giant pandas are mainly distributed in six isolated mountain ranges, namely Qinling Mountains, Minshan Mountains, Qionglai Mountains, Liangshan Mountains, Daxiang Mountains and Xiaoxiang Mountains, which are adjacent to the three provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.

At the end of the Pleistocene glacial period about 12,000 years ago, the northern giant panda (Basilisk subspecies) became extinct, leaving only small populations in the central Qinling Mountains and the Xiangling Mountains in Sichuan. In the following 10,000 years, the giant pandas of the Qinling lineage never left the Yellow River basin again.

That is to say, in the past ten thousand years, the giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains have been isolated from the giant pandas in the other five mountain ranges and have occupied different ecological niches. A comprehensive assessment of the genetic variation of giant pandas through third-generation genome sequencing technology also shows that the Qinling giant pandas have an independent population evolution history.

Therefore, the Qinling giant pandas are more primitive than those in other mountain ranges, and can be considered the "ancestors" of contemporary giant pandas.

But correspondingly, the genetic diversity of Qinling giant pandas is also very low . In contrast, the genetic variability of Sichuan giant pandas is relatively large, and their genetic diversity is richer, so they have stronger survival ability in the wild and a larger population.

Now that we have understood the background, to identify the giant panda, we must first know which subspecies it belongs to.

Take humans as an example. When we recognize a person, we first recognize the face and then the body shape. This actually also works for giant pandas.

Through comparative studies on the morphological characteristics of giant pandas in six mountain ranges, it was found that the giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains have significant differences in both skull and teeth compared with the giant pandas in the other five mountain ranges.

Image source: Fang Shengguo

The Qinling giant pandas have smaller skulls, larger teeth, and a head shape like that of cats. The giant pandas in the other five mountain ranges have larger skulls, smaller teeth, and a head shape like that of bears.

To put it intuitively, the Sichuan giant panda looks more like a bear, with a long head and a pointed mouth, while the Qinling giant panda looks more like a cat, with a round head and a short mouth.

In the above, we have made a simple distinction between different species of giant pandas. However, distinguishing between giant pandas of the same species requires a higher level of difficulty.

Let's take humans as an example. In addition to judging people by their appearance, body shape and other factors, we can also identify them by their clothing. For example, people wearing plaid shirts are mostly bigwigs in the IT industry, while windbreakers are standard for outdoor enthusiasts.

Now back to the giant pandas, the hair on their bodies is actually just like the clothes we humans wear, and it also has its own characteristics.

First of all, the color of the hair . We all know that giant pandas are black and white, but there are actually subtle differences. For example, the black part has different shades. From the color point of view, you can even divide it into light gray, dark gray and pure black.

From left to right, the darkest black part on the left is "Cheng Feng", the slightly lighter one in the middle is "Cheng Lang", and the lightest one on the far right is "Ji Xiao" Source: ipanda channel

There is also a "rare" color among giant pandas, that is, the brown hair unique to the Qinling giant panda. Among all the giant pandas, it is quite eye-catching.

Image source: ipanda channel

Secondly, you can also identify the panda by observing the shape of the hair on its ears . For example, the giant panda Menglan's iconic fan-shaped ears are very eye-catching among pandas, as if they may turn into wings and fly when they grow bigger.

Giant panda "Menglan" Source: Beijing Zoo Weibo

Of course, there are also small and pointed ears like the giant panda "He Ye", or ears that are without edges and are semicircular in shape.

Image source: ipanda channel

In addition, it can also be identified by the shape of the "dark circles" and the "shoulder straps" on the back.

For example, some giant pandas have an extra stroke under their eyes, resembling a bird, while others have more regular dark circles under their eyes, like a rectangle.

On the left is the giant panda "Runyue", and on the right is the giant panda "Danhonggao" Source: ipanda channel

The "shoulder straps" are actually a relatively obvious feature for identifying giant pandas. If you just go behind the giant pandas and observe their backs, you will find that the shapes of the "shoulder straps" are all different.

For example, the "shoulder straps" of the giant panda "Menglan" are like wearing a small vest, while the "shoulder straps" of the giant panda "Heye" are thin and narrow.

The giant panda Menglan is on the left, and the giant panda Heye is on the right. Source: Beijing Zoo Weibo

With the methods mentioned above, next time you go to the zoo to see giant pandas, you shouldn't feel that they all look the same.

When it comes to giant pandas, we always can't help wanting to know more about them. From the official discovery of giant pandas in modern times to the present day, almost every giant panda has a unique number and whereabouts, and this treatment is inseparable from their "unique" identity - rare animals.

As the name suggests, rare animals are animals that are relatively precious and rare in nature. In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology, more and more rare animals have appeared in short videos and live broadcasts. Their daily food, clothing, and housing are also widely circulated on the Internet. The mystery of rare animals no longer exists.

However, it is worth noting that the reproduction and survival conditions of rare animals are still not optimistic. For example, the giant panda has lost key reproduction genes in its reproductive system, which makes its reproductive capacity much lower than that of other mammals.

Therefore, while enjoying the joy these animals bring us, we must also be more rational in our judgment and improve our scientific literacy and awareness of biodiversity conservation.

References:

[1] Hu Jinchu. The origin and evolution of giant pandas[J]. China Forestry, 2008(22):6.

[2] Wan Qiuhong, Wu Hua, Fang Shengguo. Discovery of the Qinling subspecies of giant panda[J]. Forests and Humans, 2006, 26(8):6.

[3] Li Tao, Lai Xulong, Wang Wei, et al. A review of the classification and evolution of giant pandas[J]. Geological Science and Technology Information, 2004, 23(3):7.

Chromosome-scale genomes provide new insights into subspecies divergence and evolutionary characteristics of the giant panda

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095927321001158

How do keepers tell giant pandas apart? | Panda Q&A

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/13/c_139586292.htm

Author: Fish

Winner of the Silver Award for Outstanding Science Popularization Works of China Science Writers Association

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