The giant panda, with its black and white color scheme, fat body and round face, attracts countless fans. It is one of the most popular animals in the world and a national treasure of China.

However, apart from zoos around the world, wild giant pandas now only live in the primeval forests of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi, and their populations are also very limited.

The good news is that with the strengthening of conservation awareness, the number of wild giant pandas has continued to grow, and in 2021 it was "downgraded" from the original endangered animal to a vulnerable animal.

Since the number of giant pandas continues to increase, will they migrate to other countries in the future?

The origin of pandas?

The oldest pandas found in China are in Lufeng and Yuanmou, Yunnan. The owners of these ancient panda fossils are called Eo-Pandas and can be traced back to 8 million years ago.

However, fossils similar to the ancestors of pandas have also been found in the forests of Hungary and France in Europe, and the time can be traced back to 10 million years ago, so there is some controversy about the "ancestral home" of pandas.

However, there is not much controversy that the existing giant pandas come from a branch of EoPanda.

The primitive pandas were much smaller than the current giant pandas. They mainly lived in southern and central China. From their body shape and teeth, it can be inferred that they did not mainly eat bamboo, but were more likely to be omnivorous.

As time went by, the panda family continued to grow, and they began to be distributed to almost all of China, even including what is now Vietnam and northern Myanmar.

About 2 to 2.4 million years ago, a genetic change gave birth to modern pandas - their T1R1 gene mutated, resulting in the loss of meat umami receptors, and pandas completely entered the bamboo-eating era.

But before that, the diet of giant pandas should have become more and more inclined to bamboo since the beginning of pandas. Genetic mutations may just be an adaptation to this diet.

Pandas are highly specialized species

Herbivores tend to be larger. On the one hand, larger bodies can better maintain body temperature, thereby reducing metabolism, because The nutrients of grass are limited and consumption must be reduced.

So, after entering the era of eating bamboo, pandas began to grow larger, eventually becoming the larger bears they are today.

At the same time, their faces also become larger. This is actually an adaptation to the bamboo diet, because the big round face is caused by the strong jaw muscles.

In addition, the panda's paws are also very special. They appear to have 6 fingers-a "thumb" and five claws. Their "thumb" is actually a modified sesamoid bone, which is used to Help it hold the bamboo while eating.

Although pandas are extremely rare now, in fact, due to these highly specialized structures of pandas, they are bound to one of the most successful wild grasses in history - bamboo, making pandas also become A very successful animal. Their physical characteristics have not changed much even in the past 2 million years, and pandas are also called living fossils.

In the long history of 2 million years, those creatures that appeared at the same time as the panda have been extinct for several rounds and no one knows.

So why have the panda population become so fragile now, living only in parts of China and relying on our relief?

Why do giant pandas live in China?

Although highly specialized species can adapt well to their environment, their shortcomings are equally obvious - it is difficult to accept changes.

As we all know, the Quaternary Ice Age began 2 to 3 million years ago. As the world cooled, most living things on the earth came to an end. However, a highly specialized species like the panda has to survive. Surviving in this environment is even harder.

When the Ice Age entered, most of Europe was covered by ice and snow, so even if giant pandas (or giant panda ancestors) existed in Europe 10 million years ago, they disappeared long ago.

The same is true in the northwest and north China regions. Panda fossils have been found in these places, but they are also very prone to becoming very cold during the Ice Age and are not suitable for pandas to survive. After all, pandas have a long history of survival. For a long time, there will always be very cold periods.

Because the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains blocked the cold current from the north, the southern area was less affected by the ice age, so the panda, a highly specialized species, has been able to exist south of the Qinling Mountains.

Judging from Chinese ancient book records, giant pandas should have been common in the south of ancient China (south of the Qinling Mountains).

Outside of China, except for northern Vietnam and Myanmar, panda fossils do not appear further south.

The reason should be that after entering the tropics, biological competition has become more and more fierce. There are so many ferocious beasts that it is difficult for pandas to survive in them.

Although pandas were once common in southern China, they now only exist in some areas of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. The main reason for this is definitely due to human activities.

Humans are a very powerful part of the ecosystem, and it is obviously difficult for pandas to adapt to the damage we cause.

Now they are wild? Pandas basically live in areas above 2,000 meters above sea level, which is not that high in the fossil record. Panda fossils basically appear in temperate or subtropical forests at 500-700 meters. A large part of the reason may be to avoid us.

In fact, due to human activities, the giant panda's habitat has been completely divided into several unrelated islands - now they should be in an isolated environment on 25 isolated islands (or hills).

The main reason why modern giant pandas are in crisis of extinction is that the isolated living conditions of this island make it difficult for giant panda genes in various regions to communicate, which ultimately leads to inbreeding depression, such as reproductive failure. Low, low larval survival rate and a series of problems.

With the help of humans, many aspects have been improved, so the increase in the number of giant pandas is certain.

So, is it possible for pandas to migrate to other countries?

As the population grows, it is inevitable that pandas will migrate.

In fact, the purpose of animal migration is basically the same, either to follow water sources, or to follow food, and there is also a high-end migration-to avoid infectious diseases (the migration of early humans may be the driving factor) .

Pandas do not live in groups - there are basically no infectious diseases, nor do they live in water-scarce areas. Their only purpose of migration is food.

In fact, pandas have become very picky eaters now. In the giant panda habitat in Sichuan, there are a total of 216 species of wild bamboo, but pandas only eat 32 of them, and their favorite is the cold arrow bamboo. .

These bamboos have their own specific growth altitude. The migration of pandas to eat bamboo is also very obvious, but it is generally a bottom-up migration. This is because bamboo shoots with relatively nutritional value will grow at lower altitudes. The areas grew up first, then the high altitude areas.

It is difficult for them to get out of their own islands with this migration pattern. In fact, because the same kind of bamboo often blooms together and then dies together, giant pandas who lose food basically starve to death instead of migrating and surviving together. Find new food spots.

In terms of food, it is really difficult for giant pandas to migrate out of their habitats on their own, especially since they have been completely isolated.

However, pandas still maintain the ability to eat carnivores. To be precise, eating bamboo is their side job, but they accidentally mixed it into their main job. They do not have the double stomachs like herbivores, so they The ability to absorb nutrients from bamboo is actually very poor.

Perhaps if conditions permit, they may regain their instincts. If so, and if human activities are excluded, they may very well get out of their current isolated island.

But I don’t think they have the ability to leave China. After all, they have basically never left China since ancient times. This is an inevitable result of their highly specialized body structure.