Mutant Pandas

[Creator]

Hi I am just curious what will happened if a panda by some kind of genetic mutation, causes its diet to change to that of a omnivore like a bear or raccoon.

will it is be the panda that we know and love or it will turn into a monster. This is for a fic I am writing and also my feelings that the panda is too picky about its food.

 

[Nik]

Re: Mutant Black Pandas

IIRC, black pandas will sometimes indulge in meat-eating...

Big snag is, like koalas, it does not take much wit for a panda to hunt grass or leaves. They are not wired for more aggression than beating off sexual rivals, they're not wired for hunting, they don't have the dentition for either hunting or scavenging...

Um, my best guess, if they had a more carnivorous cousin, it would be something like the smaller, smarter red panda...

 

[Creator]

But then won't it turn into a grizzly bear or grow larger than it's picky counterparts.

I know such a mutation maybe one in a million but let's say the panda managed to survive bamboo milk, predators and stop being fastidious about it's food and eating anything it can find like a raccoon. Will it get to spread the gene if it's beneficial? But I am looking for behaviour effects.

 

[Overread]

monster or normal panda?
well it won't be normal from the start - more violent in its actions I would expect - not mindless violence, but more active and direct in its actions. Violence might be generally against everything - rather than being specifically against its prey.
I also suspect that it would be attacking smaller things - like a bully - with greater luck than larger things, not being a hunting species it would lack the basic hunting skills, so tackling something large would be very hard. Even in aquiring smaller targets I would expect it to meet considerable frustration at hunting and failing.

as for passing on its genes - two fold - if its hunting skills allow it to survive better or as well as his peer then he can be capable of surviving and breeding. However his (or her) difference from the rest of the species might make aquiring a mate difficult - mates will not be impressed or even understand the meat eating and in the wilds things that are noticable different are often either avoided or killed (interestingly mothers in the wild will also kill young on occasions that they are defective in some way -- sometimes this is violent - others its ignoring the demands of the young)

 

[Delvo]

You're asking what one trait says about another completely different and unrelated trait. The answer is: nothing. If one trait changed, another might too, or it might not, because any trait can change at any time... but either way, it would be a separate, independent thing, not a result brought on by the "first" one.

 

[Creator]

Though giant pandas are often assumed docile, they have been known to attack humans, presumably out of irritation rather than predatory behavior. Research shows that in cases in which its offspring may be under threat, the panda may react violently.

Wikipedia

I see, so two sexes will be needed. Don't forget milk produced on a bamboo diet is very poor. So it will need a female counterpart that can produce rich milk to support this new panda's offspring, this makes things interesting .

Maybe even 3 pairs of pandas of the similar genetic mutation maybe needed to support a viable population.

basically, I think it may come down to extinction eventually for their bamboo eating counterparts. In my scenario, there were only 500 pandas in the wild due to climate change. So some scientist secretly edited the code of the panda's genes to alter it's diet. But of course the result was horrible as it was raised in a zoo, eating diet of biscuits but then a kid was irritating it too much with a branch that it crashed out of the enclosure. It's only a month old.

 

[MG1962]

The Panda is basically a lazy brown bear. So if you give the panda the attributes of a brown bear, you will end up with a black and white, brown bear

 

[Lith]

Pandas seem like a species doomed to extinction by their specialization of diet and breeding. Not only do they only eat bamboo, but they're very exclusive about where and when they'll breed.

But if one mutated to become omnivorous, perhaps it would be good for the species, and there would be more of them. A bit more aggressive, maybe, but not a monster.

What if it caught rabies instead?

 

[Creator]

but at first maybe it may not understand why it has this strength to kill an animal when it's instincts says that it's a herbivore. Will it have psychological conflict at first?