The main mistake that admirers of animals do not understand in the finer points of the systematics is that large and small pandas are considered related animals. In fact, the big panda got its name only because, for a number of reasons, it really looks like a small panda, in fact, they have about the same total as a bear with a raccoon.
Because of this, a large panda (a giant panda, a bamboo bear) is not at all part of the family of pandas (smallpans), unlike the small (red, red) panda, which is the only extinct representative of this family.
The confusion in distinguishing between large and small pandas was brought by the fact that even some extinct representatives of the family of pandas (smallpans) had a hypertrophied sesamoid bone of the wrist, which formed the bony process resembling the thumb of a human wrist. The same sign is found in the giant and in the small panda, who use this “false finger” to rip off the leaves from the bamboo branches. On this basis, assumptions about the relationship of large and small pandas were constructed.
Recent research has put an end to this issue, proving that a large panda refers to bears, and not to a family of pandas. Similarities are explained by convergent evolution. In addition, this feature has significant differences, both in size, and in form and muscle applications.
