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Pandas evolved their most perplexing feature at least 6 million years ago
CNN
New research finds that pandas' particular passion for bamboo -- and the distinctive sixth finger that allows them to eat such prodigious amounts of the plant -- may have originated much earlier than previously thought.
But their ancestors, like most bears, ate a much wider diet that included meat, and it was thought that modern pandas' exclusive diet evolved relatively recently. However, a new study finds that pandas' particular passion for bamboo may have originated at least 6 million years ago -- possibly due to the plant's wide, year-round availability.
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