Ailuropoda baconi explained
Ailuropoda baconi[1] is an extinct panda known from cave deposits in South China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand from the Late Pleistocene, 750,000 years ago, and was preceded by A. wulingshanensis and A. microta as an ancestor of the giant panda (A. melanoleuca).[2] Very little is known about this animal; however, its latest fossils have been dated to the Late Pleistocene.[3]
Description
A. baconi is the largest panda ancestor on record and was larger than its descendant.[2]
Palaeoecology
δ13C values derived from A. baconi specimens indicate that it had a preference for open forest habitat.[4]
Notes and References
- Woodward. A. Smith . Arthur Smith Woodward . On the Skull of an extinct Mammal related to Æluropus from a Cave in the Ruby Mines at Mogok, Burma. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1915. 85 . III. 425–428. 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1915.tb07605.x.
- C. Jin, R. L. Ciochon, W. Dong, R. M. Hunt, Jr., J. Liu, M. Jaeger, and Q. Zhu. 2007. "The first skull of the earliest giant panda". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:10932-10937
- Bears and Bamboo: The fossil record of giant pandas. WIRED . Switek . Brian .
- Sun . Fajun . Wang . Yang . Wang . Yuan . Jin . Chang-zhu . Deng . Tao . Wolff . Burt . 15 June 2019 . Paleoecology of Pleistocene mammals and paleoclimatic change in South China: Evidence from stable carbon and oxygen isotopes . . en . 524 . 1–12 . 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.03.021 . 30 September 2024 . Elsevier Science Direct.
