Pandas lived in Hungary 10 million years ago

Newly found evidence suggests that pandas originated in Europe and not in Asia, newscientist.com reports. A set of fossil teeth has been found in Rudabánya, Hungary, suggesting that a bear similar to today’s giant pandas lived in what we now know as Hungary 10 million years ago.

David Begun, paleoanthropologist from the University of Toronto, Canada has found a set of fossil teeth that was trapped below the shoulder blade of a rhino. The teeth were found in Rudabánya located in the Northern region of Hungary. Presumably, based on the shape of the teeth, these belonged to a panda from the late Miocene (the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period). The teeth are 10 million years old.

Evidence suggests that a bear, very similar to today’s giant panda, lived in the region of today’s Hungary 10 million years ago.

Begun, working together with French Louis de Bonis and Ecuadorian Juan Abella, compared the newly found teeth’s characteristics with the teeth of other bears. Certain characteristics show what an animal ate, and the teeth were very similar to those of today’s giant panda in this respect.

According to de Bonis, both the giant panda and the bear whose teeth have been found “consumed tough plant foods, requiring shearing rather than crushing of food during chewing” newscientist.com reports.

Examination suggests that the panda whose teeth have been found in Hungary lived a similar way of life and had a similar diet to today’s giant panda.