Many people are sure to agree that the panda bear may be one of the cutest animals in the world. However, it also has one of the grossest habits all over the world.
According to a Science news site report, giant pandas found in central China's Foping National Nature Reserve "like to rub horse manure on their necks and faces." They also like rolling around in it to cover their whole body.
Now, scientists say, there is an explanation for the so-called "dung baths." As indicated in the research, horse poop has compounds that may help the animals deal with cold temperatures.
Essentially, droppings are something akin to an identification card for animals. To identify something, creatures are sniffing the feces of their own kind to collect hints in terms of "sex and mating status," and other species' scat can tell them when there is a predator nearby, the report specified.
Why Pandas are Attracted to Poop
Despite the earlier-explanations, none presented why the Ailuropoda melanoleuca or wild pandas at the reserve were attracted to horse poop.
Even though horses pass through the reserve at times, pulling agricultural supplies to local farmers, what's described as a solitary panda is not interacting with these particular animals in the wild.
To come up with a clear explanation, researchers investigated more than 35 instances of dung rolling, caught on infrared cameras at the reserve from mid-2016 to mid-2017.
The study authors led by scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Zoology found a tendency in "bears to roll in horse poop less than 10 days old." Besides, the feces contained natural compounds known as beta-caryophyllene or BCP and beta-caryophyllene oxide or BCPO, rare in older dung.
Then, the team added the said compound to the pandas' hay at the Beijing Zoo. They found the said animals favoring the hay with the compounds added to it. The pandas are sometimes observed even rubbing it all over their bodies.
On top of what had been observed, the animals were also observed to have tended to roll in horse poop during cold climate, at temperatures between five- to 15-degrees Celsius.
Limitations on Conduct of Studies
While giant pandas are China's nationwide treasure, there are strict limitations on the conduct of studies on these shielded animals, and thus, the research group turned them into a mass.
According to the researchers' report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, covering rodents in a diluted BCP-BCPO solution enhanced the animals' cold tolerance.
Mice that were treated more preparedly walked on colder surfaces. They did not huddle together too, unlike the mice given a saline solution in below-freezing temperatures.
The study investigators said, in cells, they detected that BCP-BCPO was blocking receptors that sensed cold in panda bears.
Even though it is not a piece of concrete evidence, the study investigators provided solid proof from "molecular level to elegantly plain and unique behavior," wrote Zhejiang University School of Medicine's biophysicist Fan Yang in an email.
Meanwhile, according to China West Normal University ecologist Zejun Zhang, staying warm in the winter can be a struggle for pandas as they do not hibernate. Their low-calorie diet of bamboo is making it hard to store added fat for insulation.
The researchers added, if possible that pandas have used horse poop in this manner for thousands of years already, "as ancient trade routes crossed through such a mountainous area."
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