(Image: Fuente: Agencia SINC)

A pair of 11-million-year-old teeth discovered in northern Spain may represent the earliest trace yet found of the giant panda’s line.

Juan Abella of Spain’s National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid and his colleagues examined the molar and premolar, which were found in the province of Saragossa. They say that they belong to the Ailuropodinae – a subfamily within the bear family, Ursidae. The giant panda is the only surviving member of the subfamily.

The ancient species, named Agriarctos beatrix, would have weighed no more than 60 kilograms according to Abella’s team. That means it was marginally smaller than the most lightweight of modern bears – the sun bear of south-east Asia (Ursus malayanus) can grow as heavy as 70 kilograms.


“They wouldn’t have been as herbivorous as the giant panda, nor specialised for eating bamboo,” says Abella. “They would likely have fed on small vertebrates and fruits.”

A. beatrix may have shared the panda’s distinctive hairdo. Although it is not obvious in some existing bear species, they generally have a similar pattern of coloration. “Most are dark, with light patches mainly on the chest and around the eyes,” Abella says.

Journal reference: Estudios Geológicos, DOI: 10.3989/egeol.40714.182