Improbable Research - “Why Wild Giant Pandas Frequently Roll in Horse Manure,” Wenliang Zhou, Shilong Yang, Bowen Li, Yonggang Nie, Anna Luo, Guangping Huang, Xuefeng Liu, Ren Lai, and Fuwen Wei, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 7, 2020. The study includes videos of the activity.
The authors, at the Chinese Academy of Science, report:
“In nature, it is extremely rare to observe attraction to fecal matter between wild mammalian species. Horse manure rolling (HMR) behavior described in this study is frequently observed in QIN pandas at low habitat temperature. Based on integrated analysis from climatic data, animal behaviors, and molecular assays, HMR is found as a temperature-, chemical-, and TRPM8-related behavior that may contribute to pandas’ cold tolerance. This study sheds light on how wild animals actively seek and utilize potential chemical resources from their habitat for survival adaptation.”
2 comments:
OK, for the sake of argument only...
This could be something analogous to the human Garlic necklace!
The Panda scientists concluded that the horrid smell of horse dung kept Panda socialization to a minimum, and thus reduced things like Influenza and the dreaded Coronavirus epidemics that so plagued previous generations.
Smart critters!
Just kidding, but it does make one ponder...
Re: My previous entry 9 Dec:
Today I heard that honeybees in Asia put spots of horse dung around the entry to their hive. This, to ward off those 'Murder Hornets' that can kill many of those honey bees.
Maybe the Pandas do it for the very same reason!
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