A well-preserved giant panda fossil has been discovered in a cave in northwest China’s Shaanxi province, said the provincial department of natural resources on Wednesday. The fossil dates back at least 10,000 years.
The department received tips in late July from local residents that suspected animal bone fossils had been discovered in the depth of a cave in Chenggu County, Hanzhong City of Shaanxi.
Following an on-the-ground investigation, researchers have preliminarily determined that the fossil belonged to an adult giant panda, presumably a female one. This finding is based on the fossil’s skull morphology, dental structure and sagittal crest development.
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The fossil is estimated to date back to a time between the late Middle Pleistocene and the late Pleistocene of the Quaternary Period, between 200,000 and 10,000 years ago.
“The panda skeleton we found is over 70 per cent complete, making it the most intact of its kind uncovered in the province in recent years,” said Zeng Zhongcheng, deputy director of the Shaanxi provincial paleontological fossil protection and research centre.
It was a significant discovery, said Hu Songmei, a member of the Shaanxi provincial paleontological fossil expert committee.
He added that it helped reveal the survival and evolutionary process of giant pandas that inhabited the junction areas between modern-day Shaanxi and its neighbouring provinces. It is also helping map out ancient geography, paleoclimate and environmental changes during the Pleistocene era.
The fossil bones have been safely transported to Xian, the capital city of Shaanxi, ready for specimen restoration and related scientific research.
