Extinct Bears: Dwarf Panda

The dwarf panda or Ailuropoda minor as it is scientifically known is a dwarf species of panda bear. This panda is thought to have lived in China about two million years ago.

The dwarf panda was about half the size of today’s giant panda, being about 3 feet long at most; giant pandas can be almost 6 feet long.

In 2007 the first dwarf panda skull was found; this helped scientists to determine the size of this panda.

It is believed that the pandas alive today all had some dwarf ancestors, so it is possible that the giant panda evolved from a mutation of dwarf pandas. However scientists think this to be unlikely and believe there was more likely to be two races of panda: the giant and the dwarf.

Like today’s pandas the dwarf panda is believed to have had a diet mainly consisting of bamboo as fossilised teeth indicating a lot of chewing and resembled the same patterns that modern pandas have.

May 30, 2010 · Maddia (Admin) · 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Extinct Bears, Panda Bear Species

2 Responses

  1. Vera - June 15, 2010

    this post is very usefull thx!

  2. Maddia (Admin) - April 1, 2013

    Yes. These bears are extinct.