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Why is the black and white color of panda fur? A detailed introduction to the life habits of giant p

Four seas entertainment news: panda is China's national treasure, is China's unique species, only in Sichuan and Shaanxi mountainous areas. Due to their low sexual interest and low fertility, pandas have been in an endangered state. According to statistics in 2014, there are only about 1864 wild giant pandas left in the world. Giant panda is a living fossil in the biological world. Its black-and-white fur and charmingly naive appearance make it the most popular animal and a friendly ambassador for China's foreign exchange. But do you know why the panda's fur is black and white?

≫ & gt; & gt; click on the next page to see why the panda's fur is black and white

The fur color problem of giant panda is a long-standing unsolvable puzzle in the biological world, because few other mammals have such appearance. Recently, scientists from the University of California, Davis and California State University, long beach, have made a cross-border study on the issue of Chinese giant panda's' dress' and determined that it has two important functions: camouflage and communication. The study is published this week in the journal behavioral ecology research.

Pandas eat much more, eat 30 jin bamboo every day, excrete about 40 times, but these do not affect their lovely. Look how cute those black eyes and white butt are. You may not realize that, but not many animals have black circles like the panda. Penguins, birds, zebras, monkeys, lemurs, cattle, butterflies and snakes may have black and white patterns.

Birds use color to attract mates, so evolution has chosen bright markers and different patterns. Zebras have stripes to protect against biting insects. But most mammals, especially most carnivores, tend to have more uniform coloring. Polar bears are white, brown bears are brown, and black bears can be black or brown. So what's the color of panda?

Biologists in California think they might have figured it out. As they recently wrote in the journal behavioral ecology, black or white on the panda's body are two colors that are good for them. Because they don't hibernate, their protective colors need to work in both winter and summer. Polar bears don't hibernate, but they only live in snow, so they are all white. Black and brown bears hibernate in winter, so they can have deeper coats without having to worry about standing in a cold white background.

Pandas don't hibernate, but bamboo doesn't have enough nutrition to store the fat they need in winter, so they look for food all the year round. This means they need multi-functional protective colors. In winter, the snow melts into their bodies to help them. In summer, their black areas help them hide in the shade of the forest. So you can't store enough fat to hibernate like other bears. It has to travel between snow capped mountains and tropical rainforests, feeding all year round, so it has to develop camouflage colors that blend with the environment in all four seasons, and black-and-white patches are the best choice.

Professor Tim & middot; Carroll, who led the study, has rich experience in finding that zebras evolved stripes to repel biting mosquitoes and flies in 2014. The researchers compared each part of the panda's body as an independent area with the dark and light fur of 195 other carnivores and 39 subspecies of bear to study the relationship between their fur color patches and behavior and ecological environment.

The results showed that most of the panda's face, neck, abdomen and buttocks are white, which helps them integrate into the snow of their habitat, while their forelimbs and hind legs are black, allowing them to hide in the shade of trees. Most interestingly, the black markings on the panda's head have nothing to do with camouflage, but are used for communication. Black ears can convey a sense of ferocity to predators, and black circles of eyes can help them recognize each other or warn their rivals.

It's important that we see pandas differently than pandas see each other. Most bears don't have full-color vision, and they don't have any other natural enemies, so to really know whether camouflage or threat markers work, we have to know how these animals see the world. Pandas are black and white, which actually helps them recognize each other.

Comments from netizens:

Li JunWan: because almost no other mammal has such a look, zebras and cows say they are actively preparing to appeal.

Love asked stranger: tell you the truth, this is a fate encounter. A long time ago, a polar bear ran to Sichuan by accident, and finally it fell in love with a black bear

FT Gordon Freeman: the Americans are full of bullshit! The black and white color of Mr. panda implies that it is not easy to be provoked by his black and white color!