Fossils Found in Spain Linked to Panda

Remains are of the closest known relative of the panda so far, researchers say

Spanish researchers have discovered fossils they say could be from the oldest identified relative of the giant panda. The specimens are from a species the scientists are calling Kretzoiarctos beatrix, and they are in the range of 11.5 million to 12.5 million years old, according to lead study author Juan Abella, at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Spain.

These fossils, described in the journal PLOS ONE, were found in northeast Spain, and come from two adult individuals. One set, which Abella and colleagues described last year in the journal Estudios Geológico, consists of two teeth. The other includes a broken mandible and incomplete upper carnassial (large tooth).