The Giant Stuffed Panda and Panda's and Color

The Giant Stuffed Panda and Panda's and Color

If you have ever been lucky enough to see a panda in person, then you know just how endearing they are, which in turn makes them one animal that is very tough to resist. The same is true of the giant stuffed panda with its signature black and white coloring and large teddy bear looking face, you'll find yourself bringing home more than just one.

In 2005, graduate researcher Angela Kelling, tested two Atlanta Zoo panda's, Yang Yang and Lun Lun to see if they were able to distinguish between color and different shades of grey. Kelling said her "study shows that giant pandas have some sort of color vision. Most likely, their vision is dichromatic, since that seems to be the trend for carnivores."

As far as bears go (including giant pandas) vision is not something that has been very well studied in the species. For a very long time it's been thought that bears in general had poor vision, perhaps because of the fact that their senses of smell and hearing are so superiour. There have been some experts, however, who have thought that bears must have some color vision ability given it would help then in identifying which plants are edible and which are not. Unfortunately, there is little to no experimental evidence of this particular theory. There was one experiment done on black bears which found that they were in fact able to tell blue from grey and green from grey Angela Kelling used the design of this study when she tested the color vision in the Atlanta Zoo pandas.

Over a period of two years, Kelling researched whether Lun Lun (female) and Yang Yang (male) could tell the difference between shades of grey and color. Using separate tests, each panda was shown PVC pipes, two of which hung underneath a piece of paper that contained one of the following colors: red, blue, and green. The second pipe contained 18 shades of grey. The pandas were rewarded if they pushed the pipe under the color and got nothing if they pushed the pipe under the grey paper.

Each of the colors used in the study were tested against the grey; when the pandas were tested in the green versus grey test, their performance was variable when it came to picking green, although it was above chance most of the time. In the red versus grey test, every single time, both bears were above chance. In the blue versus green test, it was only Lun Lun that was able to complete it as Yang Yang was suffering from a tooth issue which meant he was unable to eat the treats that were being used to reinforce the 'correct' behavior. Lun Lun performed below chance in this test just one time.

According to Angela Kelling, the testing wasn't conclusive; the study did show that the pandas do in fact have some ability to see color but how much [color] they see, wasn't determined. While there was no way to know if the pandas could actually tell the difference between the colors themselves red from blue or blue from green it was 'proven' that they could tell if something was grey or in color.

Wouldn't it be something if a giant stuffed panda could see in color? Alas, not being able to see at all puts the kybosh on that notion. A giant stuffed panda, however, doesn't have to be able to see for you to be able to enjoy what it has to offer: never ending companionship and constant devotion.

giant stuffed panda

giant stuffed panda

Copyright Shelley Vassall, 2010. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

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