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Qinling panda: The shrunken pandas that diverged 300,000 years ago and sometimes come out brown

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Name: Qinling panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis)

Where it lives: Qinling Mountains in the Shaanxi province, China

What it eats: Bamboo

Why it's awesome: When we think of pandas, we tend to picture the famous bears in monochrome — but not all pandas are so black and white. 

A subspecies of giant pandas called Qinling pandas can sometimes be a mix of dark and light brown. These brown pandas are so rare, only a dozen or so have ever been documented.

The first officially recorded brown Qinling panda — a female named Dandan — was found in 1985  in Foping County in Shaanxi province by a local ranger and taken to Qinling Wildlife Zoo. She remained in captivity until her death in 2000.

Qinling pandas were officially recognized as a subspecies in 2005. Their habitat, diet and behavior are very similar to giant pandas. However, Qinling pandas are slightly smaller. They also have brown eye spots underneath their eyes, whereas giant pandas have patches around their eyes.

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