Several other arboreal species, including possums and koalas, have developed opposable or semi-opposable thumbs, although all of them have a modified digit more similar to the human thumb than the peculiar wrist bones of the pandas. The discovery suggests that the false thumbs of Red Pandas evolved to help them grip narrow branches while climbing trees, unrelated to eating bamboo. The catch: Simocyon batalleri was carnivorous, not a bamboo-eater. But the trait evolved separately in the two pandas, and for entirely different reasons.Īt Cerro de los Batallones, a paleontological site in Madrid, researchers unearthed the fossil remains of a Red Panda relative called Simocyon batalleri that had the same adaptation. In fact, this bizarre trait, along with a similar bamboo-based diet, helped contribute to the assumption that the two species were related. The misleadingly named Red Panda (it’s more closely related to weasels, raccoons, skunks, and badgers than to bears) has this same strange elongated wrist bone. Without gripping abilities, pandas would require more effort to consume less bamboo, compromising their ability to meet their energy needs. For an enormous organism like a panda to survive on an energy-poor resource like bamboo, most of which is composed of indigestible fiber, maximizing eating efficiency is key. The panda’s thumb isn’t actually a thumb it’s an elongated wrist bone that opposes the five true fingers of the panda’s hand, allowing it to grip and manipulate the delicate bamboo stalks that form the majority of its diet. Watch a panda eat, and you’ll notice the thumb-like appendage that helps it hold onto bamboo stalks. Pandas have an elongated wrist bone that allows them to grip delicate bamboo. Other animals have evolved similar structures, sometimes in fascinating ways. Thumbs allow us to manipulate tools with surgical precision, granting access to an almost unrestricted range of food resources. Among all these incredible eating tools, however, nothing can match the power of the thumb.įully opposable thumbs were a watershed development in human evolutionary history. And bird bills specifically match the particular food items available to each bird species. ![]() ![]() The thin proboscis of a butterfly, on the other hand, exploits capillary action to pull in nectar without the need for muscles. Animals, after all, consume food using an impressive range of bio-mechanisms: Dogs and cats, for example, use physics, taking advantage of the surface tension of water by drawing up columns of liquid with their tongues. At the same time, it’s hard to turn off the part of my brain that watches the eating habits of wildlife with scientific curiosity. It’s hard to be overwhelmed by the ugliness of the world while watching a squeaking porcupine chowing down on pumpkins. My particular subgenre of choice has been videos of animals eating. The icon indicates free access to the linked research on JSTOR.ĭuring the last few weeks, I’ve been watching a lot of cute animal videos.
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