Lucy HicksThe panda bear may one of the world’s cutest animals, but it also has one of the world’s grossest habits: Giant pandas in central China’s Foping National Nature Reserve like to rub horse manure on their necks and faces and roll around in it to cover their entire bodies.
Now, researchers say they have an explanation for these dung baths. The horse poop contains compounds that might help the animals deal with colder temperatures.Droppings are something like an identification card for animals.
Creatures sniff the feces of their own kind to pick up clues to sex and mating status, and the scat of other species can tell them when a predator is nearby.