Why wild giant pandas frequently roll in horse manure.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zhou W
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7768701 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Why wild giant pandas frequently roll in horse manure.
Zhou Wenliang W Yang Shilong S Li Bowen B Nie Yonggang Y Luo Anna A Huang Guangping G Liu Xuefeng X Lai Ren R Wei Fuwen F
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20201207 51
Attraction to feces in wild mammalian species is extremely rare. Here we introduce the horse manure rolling (HMR) behavior of wild giant pandas (<i>Ailuropoda melanoleuca</i>). Pandas not only frequently sniffed and wallowed in fresh horse manure, but also actively rubbed the fecal matter all over their bodies. The frequency of HMR events was highly correlated with an ambient temperature lower than 15 °C. BCP/BCPO (beta-caryophyllene/caryophyllene oxide) in fresh horse manure was found to drive ...[more]
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