! Spanish News Today – New research reveals that Panda originated in Spain

Remains of the animal, dating back 11 million years, have been found in Spain and Germany

The giant panda, an animal synonymous with China, has an amazing origin story. New research has revealed that the panda bear actually comes from Spain, with the remains of the animal dating back 11 million years found in the country.

This discovery was made possible by the analysis of its various fossils Agriarktos Beatrikis species found at Els Hostalets de Pierola in Barcelona and Nombrevilla-2 in Daroca, Zaragoza.

But Spain was not the only place where the ancestors of the panda bear lived. Recently, an international team of researchers discovered the fossilized remains of an extinct species of panda, Krezoiarktos Beatrikiin Hammerschmiede in Allgäu, Germany. This discovery suggests that the bear’s ancestors always lived in Germany around 11 million years ago.

The ancestors of the panda bear were not like the modern pandas we know today. They were a little smaller and had a different diet. While modern pandas are herbivores, their ancestors were omnivores, eating plants and meat. In fact, the extinct panda was more like modern brown bears, with a diet that contained both plant and animal matter.

But the Iberian Peninsula was also the last place in Europe where giant panda ancestors lived. In 2019, Spanish paleontologists discovered fossils of an animal of the genus Indarctos, also related to today’s giant panda, at a site in Teruel. This discovery suggests that the last panda in Europe lived in and around Spain about 6 million years ago.

“The cranial, mandibular and dental features of these fossils allow us to classify them in the subfamily of the caturopodines, the group to which today’s giant panda belongs,” explained one of the researchers, Juan Abella.

“These bears were dominant in carnivorous communities during most of the Late Miocene in the Iberian Peninsula,” according to Abella, who notes that at least three different bear species existed in what is now Spain at the time.

Young ones could climb trees very easily to escape potential dangers, while larger specimens could withstand any attack thanks to their large size and powerful claws, the paleontologist added.

Their fascinating research shows that the site where the fossils were found, Las Casiones, was a lake area where these bears lived, accompanied by a diverse fauna of other large mammals, including hippos, rhinos and proboscis, relatives of today’s elephants.

Image: Freepik