Since being discovered for the first time in 1869, the classification of giant pandas in the animal world has always been controversial. A group of scientists led by the discoverer Arman David believe that pandas are a kind of bear, and some scholars think that pandas and bears are one category.
When the panda walks, the five toes are all on the ground, leaving five toes. This is the same as all bear family. Although the front feet of the cat family also have five toes, the thumbs on the inside of the front paw cannot be on the ground, so there are only 4 toe prints in the footprint of the front and rear feet. The length of the panda is 8 ~ 16 cm, and the average length of the other bears is less than 20 cm. And cats are all carnivorous animals. In order to maintain their body balance when tracking prey, their tails are generally longer, more than 20 cm. In terms of food nature, pandas rarely eat meat, and other bear family only has polar bears. In terms of flexibility of the limbs, the collarbone of giant pandas is as flexible as all bears.
However, pandas are also different from the characteristics of other bear families, such as a extended bone and unwavering on both sides of the wrist and feet. These characteristics show that pandas and bears are related, but the relationship does not seem to be very close.
With the development of molecular science technology, biologists have begun to try animals from the perspective of affinity. Through the research of genomic sequences and deoxyucleose, researchers found that all bears, including giant pandas, had a common ancestor named "Ancestor Bear". Grand pandas became a subcorders independently in Bears.
Therefore, the latest research results believe that the pandas is considered bear, not cat.