Why are pandas so obsessed with horse manure?

摘要

Giant pandas are commonly perceived as clean and cuddly animals.In the wild,the bamboo-eating giant pandas(Huang et al.,2021)are dirty,and perhaps worse,field observations have shown that giant pandas are so attracted to horse manure that they cannot resist rolling in it(Zhou et al.,2020).This strange behavior requires further study to understand.In the natural environment,feces are like an identification card;Animals can learn about the sex and mating status of other individuals of their species(Zhou et al.,2019)and identify the presence of predators nearby by smelling the feces(Linklater et al.,2013;Brodie et al.,2016).After a decade of field observation,Chinese scientists have determined that horse manure strongly attracts wild giant pandas in the Qinling region,a behavior that appears rare among other animals.A video taken by the research team in Shaanxi’s Foping National Nature Reserve showed a wild giant panda sniffing,rolling,rubbing its cheek against,and coating the manure all over its body after encountering the fresh horse manure.