Ailuropoda baconi

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Ailuropoda baconi
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene
Ailuropoda baconi IVPP.jpg
Skull (IVPP V4715), Paleozoological Museum of China
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ailuropoda
Species:
†A. baconi
Binomial name
†Ailuropoda baconi
(Woodward 1915)

Ailuropoda baconi [1] is an extinct species or subspecies of bear known from cave deposits in South China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand spanning the Middle and Late Pleistocene and into the Middle Holocene. It is the direct ancestor of the living giant panda (A. melanoleuca). [2] It was preceeded by A. wulingshanensis. [3] [4] Its distinctiveness from the living giant panda is disputed, and it has been argued that it should be treated as a paleosubspecies of the giant panda as A. melanoleuca baconi. [5]

Contents

Description

Skull Ailuropoda baconi, Pleistocene, Liujiang, Guangxi, China.png
Skull

Members of A. (melanoleuca) baconi were the largest members of the giant panda lineage, considerably larger than the preceeding species A. wulingshanensis, and somewhat larger than the living giant panda. The average body mass of A. (m.) baconi some localities was estimated in a 2024 study at approximately 120–130 kilograms (260–290 lb), with some individuals estimated to exceed 140 kilograms (310 lb), compared to the around 120 kilograms (260 lb) and 100 kilograms (220 lb) average weight estimated for captive mature male and female giant pandas, respectively. [6] The zygomatic arches of the skull are very well developed, though the sagittal crest at the top of the skull is only moderately developed. [2]

Palaeoecology

Unlike the living giant panda, which is confined to mountainous areas higher than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level, A. (m.) baconi ranged widely across southern China and into southeast Asia, from altitudes below 200 metres (660 ft) to above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). [5] δ13C values derived from A. baconi specimens indicate that it had a preference for open forest habitat. [7] Its diet was probably broader than that of the primarily bamboo consuming giant panda, though it was still predominantly plant based. [5] Ailuropoda baconi was a titular member of the " Ailuropoda - Stegodon fauna" in southern China in the Middle-Late Pleistocene, alongside species such as the giant tapir Tapirus augustus,the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) the extinct elephant-relative Stegodon orientalis , the Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), the extinct rhinoceros Rhinoceros sinensis (which may in reality actually represent the living Indian rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis [8] ), wild boar (Sus scrofa), muntjac, water buffalo, sika deer (Cervus nippon), the extinct orangutan species Pongo weidenreichi, gibbons ( Hylobates ), tigers (Panthera tigris), and the extinct cave hyena (Crocuta ultima). [2] [9] [10]

Extinction

Ailuropoda baconi saw a dramatic range collapse from the end of the Pleistocene to the middle Holocene, becoming restricted to upland areas above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), where it evolved into the modern giant panda. The morphological transition between A. baconi and the living giant panda may be due to ecological changes as a result of the restriction to mountainous environments. [5]

References

  1. ↑ Woodward, A. Smith (1915). "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. 85 (III): 425–428. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1915.tb07605.x.
  2. 1 2 3 Hu, Haiqian; Tong, Haowen; Shao, Qingfeng; Wei, Guangbiao; Yu, Haidong; Shi, Jingsong; Wang, Xunqian; Xiong, Can; Lin, Yu; Li, Ning; Wei, Zhaoying; Wang, Ping; Jiangzuo, Qigao (March 2023). "New remains of Ailuropoda melanoleuca baconi from Yanjinggou, China: Throwing light on the evolution of giant pandas during the Pleistocene". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 30 (1): 137–154. doi:10.1007/s10914-022-09637-1. ISSN   1064-7554.
  3. ↑ 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
  4. ↑ Switek, Brian. "Bears and Bamboo: The fossil record of giant pandas". WIRED.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Zhang, Hanwen (2025), "Late Pleistocene of East Asia" , Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Elsevier, pp. 479–500, doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-99931-1.00272-5, ISBN   978-0-443-29997-1 , retrieved 2025-09-05
  6. ↑ Jiangzuo, Qigao; Wang, Deyuan; Zhang, Chunming; Bottazzi, Jean; Kuang, Guangxian; Li, Shijie; Fu, Jiao; Hu, Haiqian; Tong, Haowen; Zhang, Bei; Ilyas, Muhammad; Chen, Zehui; Huang, Shan; Wang, Shiqi; Wang, Yuan (2024). "Body mass evolution of the Quaternary giant panda coincides with climate change of southern China". The Innovation Geoscience. 2 (4) 100096. doi:10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2024.100096. ISSN   2959-8753.
  7. ↑ 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" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 524: 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.03.021 . Retrieved 30 September 2024– via Elsevier Science Direct.
  8. ↑ Filoux, Arnaud; Suteethorn, Varavudh (February 2018). "A late Pleistocene skeleton of Rhinoceros unicornis (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from western part of Thailand (Kanchanaburi Province)". Geobios. 51 (1): 31–49. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2017.12.003.
  9. ↑ Liang, Hua; Liao, Wei; Shao, Qingfeng; Chen, Qiong; Tian, Chun; Yao, Yanyan; Li, Jinyan; Wang, Wei (2022-11-06). "New discovery of a late Middle Pleistocene mammalian fauna in Ganxian Cave, Southern China". Historical Biology: 1–18. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2139180. ISSN   0891-2963.
  10. ↑ Li, Zhi-wen; Sun, Li; Li, Bao-sheng; Wang, Feng-nian; Du, Ding-ding; Song, You-gui; Zhang, Hui-Juan; Chen, Liu-qin; Xu, Dan (February 2022). "East Asian summer monsoon changes in subtropical China since late Pleistocene: Evidence from the Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna". Journal of Mountain Science. 19 (2): 418–432. doi:10.1007/s11629-021-6985-y. ISSN   1672-6316.
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