Examination of fossils discovered in Bulgaria in the late 1970s led to the identification of the last known species of giant panda to have evolved on the European continent.
Agriarctos nikolovi
Published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, this research involved the analysis of a carnassial tooth and an upper canine, preserved in the National Museum of Natural History of Bulgaria. Considered the most evolved ever discovered in Europe, the new species of panda giant was named Agriarctos nikolovinamed after paleontologist Ivan Nikolov, who originally cataloged these fossils more than forty years ago.
” We only had a hastily scribbled label says Nikolai Spassov, lead author of the new study. ” It took us many years to determine where these fossils came from, their age, and finally realize that they were a previously unknown species of prehistoric giant panda.. »
Although it does not represent a direct ancestor of the modern giant panda, A. nikolovi turns out to be his close relative. The fossilized teeth had been found in coal deposits, suggesting that the species lived in forested and swampy areas of Eastern Europe about 6 million years ago.
While this creature had a predominantly vegetarian diet, it was, unlike the modern giant panda, not completely dependent on bamboo. According to the researchers, this later food specialization is linked to the pressure exerted by large predators (carnivorous mammals and other bears) sharing the pandas’ environment.
A disappearance linked to climate change
The extinction ofA. nikolovi was probably related to climate change. Spassov thinks that it could have been a victim of the Messinian salinity crisis, a geological episode characterized by the drying up of the Mediterranean Sea and having lasted 630,000 years, 5.96 to 5.33 million years ago.
” Although A. nikolovi did not have as specialized a habitat and diet as the modern giant panda, prehistoric pandas lived exclusively in moist, forested environments. “emphasizes Spasov. ” It is likely that climate change at the end of the Miocene in southern Europe led to aridification, having precipitated its demise. »
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