Are Pandas Related To Bears

Although scientists first thought this was the case it is not considered true anymore.

Are pandas related to bears. Red pandas are also called the red bear cat and the lesser panda or first panda this last in reference to the better known giant panda that was described 50 years later. Pandas are in the family ursidae and are considered true bears. Basically this is telling you that the panda bear scientifically called a. For one they are both.

Now let s look at raccoons. However molecular studies indicate the giant panda is a true bear part of the family ursidae. Pandas are not related to raccoons except that both are mammals. In fact one species of pandas the red pandas were once categorized with procyonids even though pandas belong to the bear family.

Pandas and raccoons belong to different animal families but red pandas can be considered somewhat of a distant cousin to the north american raccoon. Yet despite their unique look and their bizarre nigh inexplicable diet pandas are still bears. Melanoleuca is an animal with a spinal cord that produces milk eats meat and is a bear. Some workers however have argued that the giant panda is more closely related to raccoons than bears others have placed it in a group of their own within a larger group of carnivorans the arctoidea containing both bears and raccoons.

This is so because scientists believe procyonids are related to the bear family to which the pandas belong. A panda s a panda except when it s not. Red pandas may have similar markings on their face and people did indeed believe they were small bears for many years but recent studies have revealed that they aren t actually closely related to bears. But the giant panda also shares the characteristic shaggy fur and walks and climbs like a bear source.

Davis firmly said based on anatomy that giant pandas are bears. Despite their names these two species are not related. However in a strange twist of nomenclature their neighbor the red panda isn t. It is the most basal member of this family and equidistant from all other extant bear species.

There seems to be some misinformation floating around the web that pandas are more closely related to raccoons than bears. Pandas are bears raccoons are procyonids. Similarities to a bear. Although classified as a carnivore red pandas mainly eat bamboo leaves.

While raccoons and red pandas are not directly related they share something. Pandas are much more related to the bears than to raccoons.