Are pandas actual bears

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 11-12-06] [Hit: ]

but also according to shared derived characters.Nevertheless, the giant panda, because of its adaptation to a bamboo diet, does have an additional digit, called the pandas thumb.......

* cheek teeth are bunodont and hence indicative of a broad, hypocarnivorous (non-strictly meat-eating) diet (although hypercarnivorous (strictly meat-eating) taxa are known from the fossil record)[7]
* carnassials are flattened

Additionally, members of this family possess posteriorly oriented M2 postprotocrista molars, elongated m2 molars, and a reduction of the premolars."

These characters are mostly "Greek" to me, but it does show that the giant panda is more than just a close relative of the bear family that is more similar to other dog-like mammals, but a bona fide member of the bear family, not just according to molecular distance, but also according to shared derived characters. Nevertheless, the giant panda, because of its adaptation to a bamboo diet, does have an additional digit, called the panda's "thumb." This digit is used to grasp bamboo the same way that primates use their thumb, but it is not a real finger. It is instead an enlarged wrist bone that is also found in other bears but it is not enlarged in the other bears.

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This used to be disputed, but the dispute was put to bed thirty years ago or so. When I was growing up it was fairly widely held that the giant panda had the red panda as its closest relative, and that critter looks nothing like a bear. However, further research demonstrated the giant panda is a bear, and has no close relationship with the red panda, despite the same name. The red panda's more closely related with raccoons.

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