Scientists in China discovered a pygmy panda skull that is around two to three million years old and only about half the size of current Giant Pandas.

A skull of the earliest known ancestor of the giant panda has been discovered for the first time in a limestone cave in southern China. The discovery was reported in the US publication “Proceedings of the National Academy of Science”.

The skull fossil was found in 2001 by a team composed of members of the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation and US researchers from the University of Iowa. Ancestors of the modern panda are formally known as the “pygmy giant panda”. Tests on the skull show that they were present in the forests of southern China at least two to three million years ago.

The fossil panda’s teeth and jaw indicate that the species had already adapted to a diet of bamboo. Skull features indicate that the early panda may have been remarkably similar to its descendants, but only about half the size.

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