Ailuropoda baconi

Unlike the living giant panda, which is confined to mountainous areas higher than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level, A. (m.) baconi ranged widely across southern China and into southeast Asia, from altitudes below 200 metres (660 ft) to above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft).^[5] δ¹³C values derived from A. baconi specimens indicate that it had a preference for open forest habitat.^[7] Its diet was probably broader than that of the primarily bamboo consuming giant panda, though it was still predominantly plant based.^[5] Ailuropoda baconi was a titular member of the "Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna" in southern China in the Middle-Late Pleistocene, alongside species such as the giant tapir Tapirus augustus,the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) the extinct elephant-relative Stegodon orientalis, the Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), the extinct rhinoceros Rhinoceros sinensis (which may in reality actually represent the living Indian rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis^[8]), wild boar (Sus scrofa), muntjac, water buffalo, sika deer (Cervus nippon), the extinct orangutan species Pongo weidenreichi, gibbons (Hylobates), tigers (Panthera tigris), and the extinct cave hyena (Crocuta ultima).^[2][9][10]

Ailuropoda baconi saw a dramatic range collapse from the end of the Pleistocene to the middle Holocene, becoming restricted to upland areas above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), where it evolved into the modern giant panda. The morphological transition between A. baconi and the living giant panda may be due to ecological changes as a result of the restriction to mountainous environments.^[5]