A 100,000-year-old giant panda fossil was found in Zunyi, Guizhou

Guiyang, 8 Dec (Xinhua) -- A reporter recently learned from the Institute of Mountain Resources of the Guizhou Academy of Sciences that giant panda fossils were found in Shuanghe Cave in Suiyang County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, more than 100,000 years ago.

It is understood that Shuanghe Cave is located in Suiyang County, Zunyi City, hot spring town, has been proven length of more than 300 kilometers, is a dolomite cave, the internal structure is complex, water cave, dry cave coexist, more than 70 cave entrances in series with each other, for the giant panda to provide a livable cave environment.

Wang Deyuan, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Mountain Resources of the Guizhou Academy of Sciences, said that the giant panda fossils found this time are extremely well preserved and very rare in the world, and the fossil tooth enamel dating data shows that one of the giant pandas lived 102,000 years ago.

The picture shows the giant panda fossils found in this scientific expedition. (Courtesy of Institute of Mountain Resources, Guizhou Academy of Sciences)

According to experts, the limbs of giant pandas show a special evolutionary adaptation phenomenon in grasping bamboo for feeding, and compared with other bears, giant pandas have an extra "thumb" on the palm. The "thumb" is an enlarged radius, not a thumb in the true sense, because it is used to assist the other 5 fingers to grasp the bamboo, known as the "pseudo-thumb".

Wang Deyuan told reporters that as of now, researchers have found nearly 30 giant panda fossil individuals in Shuanghe Cave. This discovery reflects that at that time, giant pandas already had the physiological conditions to use the forefoot to grasp bamboo flexibly like modern giant pandas, and improved people's understanding of the evolution of giant panda eating characteristics.

Jiang Zuoqigao, a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Earth and Space Sciences of Peking University, introduced that there are rich mammal fossil resources in Shuanghe Cave, in addition to giant panda fossils, previous scientific expeditions have also found jackals, rhinos, black bears, saber-toothed elephants, big spirit cats, iguanas and other animal fossils.