A close relative of today's giant pandas lived in the Balkans some six million years ago, according to a study by paleontologist Nikolai Spassov of the National Museum of Natural History with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He and Qigao Jiangzuo of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences published an article on this discovery in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in July.

In an interview for BTA, Prof Spassov explained that the discovery came after decades of trying to unravel the mystery of two fossilized teeth at the National Museum of Natural History. The teeth were probably brought to his predecessor at the Museum, Dr Ivan Nikolov, before the 1980s and a single handwritten label was left beside them. Only years later did Prof Spassov manage to determine that the label read "Gyuredjiya", which he later learned was the old name of Ognyanovo village (Northwestern Bulgaria). 

That led the paleontologist to coal deposits in that area, samples from which allowed him to date the teeth. He then compared them to those of extinct and present-day panda species. For his study, Prof. Spassov examined specimens in museums and institutes in China, Hungary, France, and Austria.  

The newly identified species of panda, named Agriarctos nikolovi in honor of Dr Nikolov, lived during the Miocene epoch in the Balkans' then swampy, forested areas. Prof. Spassov believes this species was the most evolved member of the independent giant panda lineage formed in Europe during the late Miocene. It is a close relative but not a direct ancestor of present-day giant pandas. Its size was similar or just slightly smaller, the paleontologist said.

While bamboo accounts for more than 99% of the diet of today's pandas, Agriarctos nikolovi is thought to have lived on other plants since its teeth were not strong enough to sustain the pressure from hard bamboo, and bamboo was rare in that epoch, Prof. Spassov's study found. The robust teeth were a good deterrent to predators.

Agriarctos nikolovi went extinct probably due to habitat loss as a result of the climate changes in Southern Europe at the end of the Miocene. During the so-called Messinian salinity crisis 5.96 to 5.33 million years ago, the waters of the Mediterranean dried up, likely depriving the pandas of their main sources of food and their humid, wooded habitats, Prof Spassov told BTA.

Prof Spassov recently told Bulgarian National Television two more fossil teeth have been found that he believes belong to Agriarctos nikolovi. Whether that is indeed the case will be determined after excavations in Western Bulgaria.