Giant Pandas Have Color Vision

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

When Zoo Atlanta’s baby panda opened its eyes for the first time last Thursday, it viewed the world in color, according to a new study that concluded all giant pandas see in color.


The find adds to the growing body of evidence that most mammals, and particularly carnivores, possess some sort of color vision. Giant pandas are classified as carnivores, even though they act like plant-loving herbivores, since they prefer to spend their days quietly nibbling on bamboo shoots and leaves.

Researchers investigated color vision in the baby panda’s mother, Lun Lun, and father, Yang Yang, and determined that while both see color, it is not fully comparable to what humans see.


Angela Kelling, who led the study, told Discovery News, "It is most likely that giant pandas are dichromats, confusing colors in the blue-green portion of the spectrum with gray."


Dichromats lack a gene and certain protein pigments in the retina that trichromats, such as humans, possess. They often have trouble distinguishing between certain colors, but they also seem to possess a keen ability for differentiating among white, black and the various shades of gray in between.







Kelling, a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Conservation Behavior, presented Lun Lun and Yang Yang with PVC pipes hanging under colored pieces of paper. Eighteen shades of gray paper were used, along with green, red and blue papers. If the panda pushed a pipe under a color other than gray, it received a food reward.


Both bears performed above chance during almost every trial, which indicates they can at least determine if something is gray or colored.


Findings are published in the current issue of Learning and Behavior.


"Color vision, which tends to go along with better daylight visual acuity, would allow them to perceive bamboo patches from a distance," said Kelling, who also thinks such visual skills would aid the pandas in choosing healthy, colorful bamboo plants as opposed to dull-hued, dying ones.


Terry Maple, director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Conservation Behavior, told Discovery News that he wasn’t surprised by the study results.


"Angela deserves a lot of credit for her patience and ingenuity," he said. "Pandas can be stubborn."


Maple added, "Although most mammals appear to be dichromatic, you don't really know until you test them. Now that we know how to test them, further research may determine the full scope of their color vision."

Reference:Discovery