熊貓為什么是黑白的？

Linda+Hervieux+李鵬飛

Its a question that has confused children， and now clearly scientists have the answer： Why do giant pandas have spots1？ To find out， a team of California researchers compared the black and white parts of the pandas fur2 to more than 200 other kinds of animals， and then studied those findings in relation to environmental and action conditions， Science reports.

Since pandas dont hibernate3 like bears， the team ruled out that color helps regulate4 body temperature. Writing in the journal Behavioral Ecology， the researchers think that white patches5 on the pandas face， bottom， and belly provide camouflage6 from predators7 in snowy places， while dark limbs help the panda hide in forests. And those black ears that you might think are cute are meant to help the panda communicate “ferocity8” to predators.

Dark eye patches arent meant to resist hard light， as the experts thought， but instead probably help the panda recognize friends and avoid competitors. Piebald9 patches evolved as a sort of compromise10 since the bamboo eaters are active year-round， according to Science. Lead author Tim Caro says in a statement that the pandas unique coloring posed “a long-standing problem in biology that has been difficult to solve because actually no other mammal has this appearance.”

The “breakthrough” came， he explains， when researchers treated “each part of the body as an independent area.” The panda question wasnt Caros first bicolor-related puzzle. He once wore a zebra costume as part of a research to figure out why the animals have stripes. The answer？ To stop horseflies from biting them.

據《科學》雜志報道，這是一個一直困擾著孩子們的問題。現在，科學家們顯然已經找到“為什么大熊貓有這樣的皮毛顏色？”這個問題的答案。為了找到答案，一組加利福尼亞研究人員將熊貓皮毛的黑白區域與200多種其他種動物進行比較，然后聯系環境和行為條件分析這些發現。

由于大熊貓不像熊那樣冬眠，研究小組排除了黑白色有助于調節體溫的可能性。研究人員在《行為生態學》雜志上發表文章稱，熊貓臉部、臀部和腹部的白色斑塊為它們在雪地躲避捕食者提供了偽裝，而黑暗的四肢則有助于熊貓在森林中藏身。可能你認為很可愛的那對黑色耳朵，是為了幫助熊貓向其他捕食者傳達“兇猛”的意思。

專家們認為，深色眼睛斑塊并不是用來抵御強光的，反而可能是幫助熊貓識別朋友，避開競爭對手。根據《科學》雜志所說，由于食竹者一年到頭都是活躍的，因此，斑塊的形成是一種妥協。該研究的主要作者提姆·卡羅在一份聲明中說，熊貓的獨特毛色成為“生物學上一個長期存在的很難解決的問題，因為幾乎沒有其他哺乳動物有這種情況。”

他解釋說，當研究人員把“身體的每個部分都當成一個獨立的區域”時，“突破”就出現了。熊貓問題并不是卡羅第一個與雙色有關的研究問題。他曾經穿了一件斑馬的衣服，作為研究為什么這些動物有條紋的一部分。答案是什么呢？是為了阻止馬蠅叮咬。endprint