RT Journal Article
T1 Three-dimensional computer simulations of feeding behaviour in red and giant pandas relate skull biomechanics with dietary niche partitioning.
A1 Figueirido-Castillo, Francisco Borja
A1 Tseng, Zhijie Jack
A1 Serrano Alarcón, Francisco José
A1 Martín-Serra, Alberto
A1 Pastor, Juan F.
K1 Panda rojo - Alimentación
K1 Biomecánica
AB The red (Ailurus fulgens) and giant (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) pandas are mammalian carnivores convergently adapted to a bamboo feeding diet. However, whereas Ailurus forages almost entirely on younger leaves, fruits and tender trunks, Ailuropoda relies more on trunks and stems. Such difference in foraging mode is considered a strategy for resource partitioning where they are sympatric. Here, we use finite-element analysis to test for mechanical differences and similarities in skull performance between Ailurus and Ailuropoda related to diet. Feeding simulations suggest that the two panda species have similar ranges of mechanical efficiency and strain energy profiles across the dentition, reflecting their durophagous diet. However, the stress distributions and peaks in the skulls of Ailurus and Ailuropoda are remarkably different for biting at all tooth locations. Although the skull of Ailuropoda is capable of resisting higher stresses than the skull of Ailurus, the latter is able to distribute stresses more evenly throughout the skull. These differences in skull biomechanics reflect their distinct bamboo feeding preferences. Ailurus uses repetitive chewing in an extended mastication to feed on soft leaves, and Ailuropoda exhibits shorter and more discrete periods of chomp-and-swallow feeding to break down hard bamboo trunks.
PB The Royal Society
YR 2014
FD 2014
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/36619
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/36619
LA eng
NO Figueirido B, Tseng ZJ, Serrano-Alarcón FJ, Martín-Serra A and Pastor JF. 2014. Three-dimensional computer simulations of feeding behaviour in red and giant pandas relate skull biomechanics with dietary niche partitioning. Biology Letters 10: 20140196.
NO https://openpolicyfinder.jisc.ac.uk/id/publication/11597
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 19 ene 2026