Linda+Hervieux+李鹏飞

Its a question that has confused children， and now clearly scientists have the answer： Why do giant pandas have spots1？ To find out， a team of California researchers compared the black and white parts of the pandas fur2 to more than 200 other kinds of animals， and then studied those findings in relation to environmental and action conditions， Science reports.

Since pandas dont hibernate3 like bears， the team ruled out that color helps regulate4 body temperature. Writing in the journal Behavioral Ecology， the researchers think that white patches5 on the pandas face， bottom， and belly provide camouflage6 from predators7 in snowy places， while dark limbs help the panda hide in forests. And those black ears that you might think are cute are meant to help the panda communicate “ferocity8” to predators.

Dark eye patches arent meant to resist hard light， as the experts thought， but instead probably help the panda recognize friends and avoid competitors. Piebald9 patches evolved as a sort of compromise10 since the bamboo eaters are active year-round， according to Science. Lead author Tim Caro says in a statement that the pandas unique coloring posed “a long-standing problem in biology that has been difficult to solve because actually no other mammal has this appearance.”

The “breakthrough” came， he explains， when researchers treated “each part of the body as an independent area.” The panda question wasnt Caros first bicolor-related puzzle. He once wore a zebra costume as part of a research to figure out why the animals have stripes. The answer？ To stop horseflies from biting them.

据《科学》杂志报道，这是一个一直困扰着孩子们的问题。现在，科学家们显然已经找到“为什么大熊猫有这样的皮毛颜色？”这个问题的答案。为了找到答案，一组加利福尼亚研究人员将熊猫皮毛的黑白区域与200多种其他种动物进行比较，然后联系环境和行为条件分析这些发现。

由于大熊猫不像熊那样冬眠，研究小组排除了黑白色有助于调节体温的可能性。研究人员在《行为生態学》杂志上发表文章称，熊猫脸部、臀部和腹部的白色斑块为它们在雪地躲避捕食者提供了伪装，而黑暗的四肢则有助于熊猫在森林中藏身。可能你认为很可爱的那对黑色耳朵，是为了帮助熊猫向其他捕食者传达“凶猛”的意思。

专家们认为，深色眼睛斑块并不是用来抵御强光的，反而可能是帮助熊猫识别朋友，避开竞争对手。根据《科学》杂志所说，由于食竹者一年到头都是活跃的，因此，斑块的形成是一种妥协。该研究的主要作者提姆·卡罗在一份声明中说，熊猫的独特毛色成为“生物学上一个长期存在的很难解决的问题，因为几乎没有其他哺乳动物有这种情况。”

他解释说，当研究人员把“身体的每个部分都当成一个独立的区域”时，“突破”就出现了。熊猫问题并不是卡罗第一个与双色有关的研究问题。他曾经穿了一件斑马的衣服，作为研究为什么这些动物有条纹的一部分。答案是什么呢？是为了阻止马蝇叮咬。endprint