March 3, 2017
The scientists who uncovered why zebras have black and white stripes (to repel biting flies), took the coloration question to giant pandas in a study published this week in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
The study, a collaboration between the University of California, Davis, and California State University, Long Beach, determined that the giant panda's distinct black-and-white markings have two functions: camouflage and communication.
Deconstructing A Giant Panda
"Understanding why the giant panda has such striking coloration has been a long-standing problem in biology that has been difficult to tackle because virtually no other mammal has this appearance, making analogies difficult," said lead author Tim Caro, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. "The breakthrough in the study was treating each part of the body as an independent area."
This enabled the team to compare different regions of fur across the giant panda's body to the dark and light coloring of 195 other carnivore species and 39 bear subspecies, to which it is related. Then they tried to match the darkness of these regions to various ecological and behavioral variables to determine their function.
Read more at:
The scientists who uncovered why zebras have black and white stripes (to repel biting flies), took the coloration question to giant pandas in a study published this week in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
The study, a collaboration between the University of California, Davis, and California State University, Long Beach, determined that the giant panda's distinct black-and-white markings have two functions: camouflage and communication.
Deconstructing A Giant Panda
"Understanding why the giant panda has such striking coloration has been a long-standing problem in biology that has been difficult to tackle because virtually no other mammal has this appearance, making analogies difficult," said lead author Tim Caro, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. "The breakthrough in the study was treating each part of the body as an independent area."
This enabled the team to compare different regions of fur across the giant panda's body to the dark and light coloring of 195 other carnivore species and 39 bear subspecies, to which it is related. Then they tried to match the darkness of these regions to various ecological and behavioral variables to determine their function.
Read more at:
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