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via NBC News
Giant pandas are known worldwide because of their cuteness. With those distinct black and white markings, roly poly bodies that are perfect for literally just rolling around, and their vegetarian diets and mild temperaments that make them closer to living teddy bears than actual bears, giant pandas are god's gift to the world.
But an emerging scientific breakthrough has revealed that pandas do something that isn't so cute: they love to cover themselves in horse poop. Makes you rethink wanting to cuddle them, right?
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Historically, horses and giant pandas didn't have much to do with each other. In the wild, giant pandas live in a few mountain ranges in southwest China, where broadleaf and coniferous forests have generous understories of bamboo. Wild horses in China lived on grassy plains rather than mountains until human domestication brought horses with them to the mountains.
Scientists first noticed giant pandas rolling around in and covering themselves in horse poop in 2007. After a few years of recording wild pandas taking regular poop baths, they confirmed that it wasn't just a fluke: giant pandas would frequently sniff out horse manure (the fresher the better), inspect it, then slather themselves in it.
But the scientists were no closer to having an answer for this behavior. Other animals are known to interact with the poop of others to mark their territory or have a little snack, but none cover themselves in it like giant pandas do.
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via CNN
The researchers eventually found that horse poop contains two compounds called sesquiterpenes that are found in plants, and when applied to the fur of laboratory mice, it protected them from cold temperatures. This means that when pandas cover themselves in horse poop, it acts as a jumper essentially, keeping them warm in the cold temperatures. However, pandas have thick coats and are well-equipped for living in low temperatures (and they love snow), so this explanation may not be the only one.
Another explanation for this strange behavior could be that the sesquiterpenes in horse manure act as a shield for inflammation and pain, much like Tiger Balm or Vicks VapoRub. Unfortunately we can't ask a panda why they like rolling around in horse poop, so we'll have to keep on speculating for now. But even when they're covered in poop, giant pandas are still darn cute.
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