Giant pandas: irreversible extinction

Panda: armed to the teeth useless www.thebeijingnews.com · 8-12, 2007 6: 43: 52 ·

Source: Beijing News

Giant pandas, the world's most inviting people love animals that charmingly naive, naughty meek, like people like lazily sat on the ground.

Leave it selected as the flag of WWF in its presentation wrote: "this is a peaceful, eat bamboo animals".

So when 4 August this year, the Zoo's giant pandas in Lanzhou "blue baby" suddenly ruffled, keepers serious bite news, many people's Congress was shocked.

To check the "giant pandas" account, you will find the peace lovers bones may not be a good guy.

Classification on the basis of

First of all from its teeth.

Teeth, is animal taxonomists and paleontologists love, because different feeding habits of the mammals, the number of teeth of the morphology and vary considerably, but the same kind of animal teeth are very similar. More interesting is that the teeth strong, is the most easily preserved fossil specimens, to study animal evolution development provides a handy material. Mammals, with the exception of a few whale, the amount of the teeth are 44, zoologists have these teeth are divided into four categories, namely incisor teeth, canine teeth, the former lower jaw and lower jaw. Animal taxonomists will bring a number of animal species of the teeth "tooth" represented, such as the Wolf of the tooth is i.3/3, c.1/1, p.4/4, m.2/3. This means that each side on the mandibular 3 incisor teeth, 1 canine teeth, 4 2 months before the lower jaw and lower jaw and on the three lower molar.

There are two giant pandas on sharp canine teeth, it is precisely these two edged knife used for "," seriously hurt the poor breeder.

The sharp edged knife used is not the killer in mammals — Carnivora animal sign? Carnivora gathered inside most mammalian predators, they developed, action agile limbs, particularly with canine claws. Keeping a dog and cat friends on their Carnivora two small pet on sharp canine teeth. Although the very prestige, but two pairs of large fangs and not be a mammal classified to Carnivora artistry basis, such as with us human beings with spiritual purpose Baboon is equally long have the pride of the canine tooth. Scientists are concerned about is the last on the front of the maxillary molars and mandibular first molar, all of the Carnivora animals, both on their students out of the two sharp tip, when they snap together, these four tips just like zhadao as shredding and tear any tough muscle, so was the Special called "cracked tooth." This is the meat eating purposes. The Giant Panda has a typical split gear, belong to Carnivora is beyond doubt.

Lack of competitiveness

Then the Giant Panda is how to become a vegetarian? actually, animal feeding is often filled with flexible.

Panda bear branch of relatives and carnivorous animals, animals have complex recipes — although they were both born in a outlet standard "meat tooth", in the absence of animal-derived food and other food sources in sufficient time, these pangdudu guy would not have hesitated to convert recipes. The earliest known ancestor of giant pandas — 800 million years ago of lufeng began the Panda (Ailurarctoslufengensis) tooth fossils tell us that this is a kind of "euryphagous", a figure similar to Fox's animals, but it's also rare plants in the menu, because of its lower jaw small and smooth, not effective grinding plant rough.

Soon, ice age is coming, and had vast temperate and sub-tropical forest area is rapidly shrinking.

Meanwhile, Panda has also faced a tough competitor. Originally lived in the North of euryphagous animals have also been cold off the beginning Panda geographical.

The face of this pressures, Panda must make choices, or become more powerful, or find a new way to survive.

The latter is a "short cut" to convert menu, you can avoid competition. Thus, we see the 200 million years ago of small species of giant pandas (Ailuropodamicrota), already have rough spacious molar, this is a sign of herbivores. Thus price is enormous. Vegetable food nutrition deprivation, particularly the only changed menu guy hasn't had evolved to adapt to plant digestive system. Therefore, they must not stop eating, we could not see the lives of small species of giant pandas, but existing Panda day takes 12-18 hours eating, eat 12-38 kg of bamboo. At the same time, their bodies became more extensive, and approximate spherical, because it can reduce the body heat loss.

Access to the edge of extinction

100 years ago, Qinling and Yunnan-Guizhou plateau will uplift, this stop a cold wind from the Northwest.

Meanwhile, global temperatures are warmer. Forest extends to the North again, Panda ancestor received ample living space. When the Giant Panda is a figure than existing Panda Panda larger pasteurized (Ailuropodabaconi). Pasteurized Panda has very close to the giant panda, is almost completely of herbivores. This period is also the most prosperous in the history of Panda.

Ten thousand years ago, a small ice age comes back again, pasteurized Panda South Mountain shelter of warm Canyon.

At this point, the Giant Panda has evolved into pasteurized today's giant pandas, and fit start small, this is often the decline of threatened species. Gentle giant pandas and North of New Zealand's mammoth and the fear of a bird, this species has been the decline in human bow and arrow traps and sickle ploughs of persecution, or extinct or endangered. 2000 years ago, the giant pandas in China Henan, LakeNorth, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan province can also be seen. Today, in addition to the Shaanxi, Sichuan, Northern and western area of less than 6000 sq km of secluded mountain there are more than 1000 in Panda, we can only see those at the Zoo is the "domestication" national treasure.

□ Lean camel (Shandong biology researchers)