Do livestock feces repel giant pandas? A smelly study investigating behavioral responses in captivity

Giant Panda (hereafter, panda) habitat in the Mountains of Southwest China is recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot, and protecting its habitat promotes the conservation of other endemic and threatened flora and fauna. Livestock grazing is an emerging threat to this critical habitat, and pandas have been found to retreat from areas of intensive livestock grazing. Yet the mechanism behind panda behavior is still unknown. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that livestock odor repels pandas by studying 15 captive pandas in Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province, China. We also examined panda behavioral responses and changes in spatial utilization to different odor sources, including feces from 2 livestock species (cattle and horse) and wild Sambar. Our results show that the odors of livestock feces suppress panda exploration of their surrounding environment, especially under cattle feces odor cues. This study sheds light on how pandas may react to livestock feces in the wild and the mechanism of reduction in habitat use by pandas, which provides foundational evidence to formulate improved management policies in panda-protected areas.

Duke Scholars

Author Binbin Li DKU Faculty