Is the Giant Panda a Bear or a Cat?

Is The Giant Panda A Bear Or A Cat

Since the giant panda was first scientifically discovered in 1869, its classification within the animal kingdom has been a subject of ongoing debate. Armand David, the discoverer, along with a group of scientists, believed that the giant panda is a type of bear. However, some scholars have argued that the giant panda might be more closely related to the red panda.

When walking, a giant panda places all five toes on the ground, leaving footprints with five distinct toe marks, which is similar to all bear species. While the front paws of felines also have five toes, the inner thumb of the front paw does not touch the ground, so both the front and back footprints of cats show only four toe marks. The giant panda’s tail measures between 8 to 16 centimeters in length, which is consistent with other bear species whose tails typically measure less than 20 centimeters. In contrast, feline tails are generally longer, exceeding 20 centimeters, which aids in maintaining balance during hunting.

In terms of diet, the giant panda rarely eats meat, similar to other bear species, where only the polar bear is primarily carnivorous. Regarding limb flexibility, the giant panda’s clavicles are as flexible as those of other bears. However, the giant panda also exhibits unique characteristics that distinguish it from other bears, such as an elongated bone on each side of its wrists and the fact that it does not hibernate. These features suggest that while the giant panda is related to bears, the relationship is not particularly close.

With the advancement of molecular techniques, biologists began to study animals from the perspective of evolutionary relationships. Through genome sequencing and DNA research, scientists discovered that all bear species, including the giant panda, share a common ancestor known as the “ancestral bear.” The giant panda has since evolved into its own subfamily within the bear family (Evolution of Giant Panda).

Why Did Early Researchers Believe the Giant Panda and Red Panda Were Related?

Early researchers believed that the giant panda and red panda were related because both species share a bamboo-based diet and exhibit similarities in certain skeletal and dental features. For instance, the red panda also has a pseudo-thumb on its front paws, which it uses in conjunction with its other fingers to grasp bamboo. However, as research progressed, biologists discovered many differences between the two species. One notable difference is that the red panda cannot bite through tough bamboo stems like the giant panda (Diet of Giant Pandas); it can only eat bamboo shoots and leaves.

What Other Animals Have Names That Can Cause Classification Confusion?

There are several animals whose names can be misleading in terms of classification:

  • Giraffes: Despite having “deer” (鹿) in their Chinese name, giraffes do not belong to the deer family. Instead, they are classified under their own family, the Giraffidae.
  • Tibetan Antelope (Chiru): Although called “antelope” (羚羊) in its name, the Tibetan antelope actually belongs to the subfamily of sheep within the Bovidae family, not the antelope subfamily.

Why Do We Classify Animals?

In the 18th century, Swedish naturalist Carl von Linné (also known as Carl Linnaeus) observed that many living organisms lacked standardized naming and classification, making research difficult. To address this issue, he introduced the binomial nomenclature system in his work Systema Naturae, where each species is given a two-part name consisting of its genus and species. Linnaeus also organized animals into seven hierarchical categories: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species, based on the similarity of their skeletal and morphological features. This classification system has since been refined, with additional levels like subfamily and subspecies being added over time.

The more categories two animals share in this classification, the more closely related they are. For example, the giant panda, polar bear, and black bear all belong to the Animalia kingdom, Chordata phylum, Mammalia class, Carnivora order, and Ursidae family. However, the giant panda is classified in its own subfamily, Ailuropodinae, while the polar bear and black bear belong to the Ursinae subfamily. This indicates that polar bears and black bears are more closely related to each other than either is to the giant panda (Who Are the “Relatives” of Giant Pandas?).