Scientists Pinpoint Giant Panda's Birthplace

Longgupo of Wushan Mountain in southwest China's Sichuan province may be the birthplace of giant pandas, a recent archaeological discovery suggests.

According to Huang Wanbo, a prestigious Chinese anthropologist and researcher at the Chinese Academy of Science, Chinese and French archaeologists have recently concluded a study of evacuated animal fossils at Longgupo and believe Longgupo is where giant pandas originated.

More than 10 kinds of animal fossils, including fossils of rhinoceroses, antelopes and giant pandas, were unearthed in a 400-sq-m cave there at an altitude of 1,200 meters, he said. The giant panda fossils are about 80,000 to 100,000 years old.