One has a red boil, a striped tail and lives aloft in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. The other has lighter fur and can be seen in Nepal, Bhutan and northern India. And these are two distinct species of red pandas, by the scientific name of Ailurus styani and Ailurus fulgens , that Chinese researchers have just characterized after considerable work in genetic sequencing. Their study is published Wednesday, February 26 in the journal Science Advances .
Read also: A line of giant pandas living 22,000 years ago has completely disappeared
Historically, zoologists had taken the habit of classifying the small mammal (sometimes called small panda or glowing panda, but which has no family link with the giant black and white panda) in two subspecies, the Chinese red panda and the Himalayan red panda. A delimitation based on their small morphological differences and on their geographical distribution area, on one side or the other of the Nujiang river. But the classification was still debated.
The Himalayan red panda has a lighter face and a less clearly striped tail than its Chinese cousin. Mathias Appel
Determined to decide the question, which has a direct impact on the conservation policy of the species, the Chinese researchers set out to sequence the complete genome of 65 animals, as well as the precise analysis of the Y chromosome and the DNA of the animals. mitochondria. "These markers of male and female lines make it possible to observe the evolution of populations and their genetic diversity going back in time" , specifies Hervé Le Guyader, professor emeritus of evolutionary biology at Sorbonne University, who did not participate in the 'study.
Endangered
Their robust results reveal the very clear difference in the genetic characteristics of the Chinese and Himalayan pandas: this is what prompts scientists to consider two distinct species. The study also upsets the certainties about their distribution in space. "The Yalu Zangbu River is most likely the border between the two species," write the authors.
"Even more interesting, they show that Ailurus fulgens has a much less diverse genetic heritage, much poorer than that of Ailurus styani " , decrypts Hervé Le Guyader. This difference is linked to the continuous decline of the Himalayan red panda population for two million years, while its Chinese cousin has better withstood two significant declines in numbers. Less inbred, the latter is also less weakened by deleterious genetic mutations.
The red panda, whose total population is estimated at 10,000 individuals, is considered "endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species. It is the subject of targeted protection measures over part of its habitat. "The more precise delimitation of species has crucial implications for the conservation of the red panda, which could be the subject of more appropriate safeguarding measures", underline the authors of the study.
The classification will still have to be formalized. According to Guillaume Achaz, researcher at the National Museum of Natural History, "the matter must now be entrusted to taxonomists who are the only ones authorized, by applying very precise criteria, to operate the division of red panda into two species".