Giant pandas can discriminate the emotions of human facial pictures

Youxu Li; Qiang Dai; Rong Hou; Zhihe Zhang; Peng Chen; Rui Xue; Feifei Feng; Chao Chen; Jiabin Liu; Xiaodong Gu; Zejun Zhang; Dunwu Qi

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-08789-y

Scientific Reports (Aug 2017)

Giant pandas can discriminate the emotions of human facial pictures

Youxu Li,
Qiang Dai,
Rong Hou,
Zhihe Zhang,
Peng Chen,
Rui Xue,
Feifei Feng,
Chao Chen,
Jiabin Liu,
Xiaodong Gu,
Zejun Zhang,
Dunwu Qi

Affiliations

Youxu Li: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Qiang Dai: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rong Hou: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Zhihe Zhang: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Peng Chen: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Rui Xue: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Feifei Feng: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Chao Chen: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Jiabin Liu: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Xiaodong Gu: Wildlife Conservation Division, Forestry Department of Sichuan Province
Zejun Zhang: Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation, China West Normal University
Dunwu Qi: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08789-y
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract Previous studies have shown that giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) can discriminate face-like shapes, but little is known about their cognitive ability with respect to the emotional expressions of humans. We tested whether adult giant pandas can discriminate expressions from pictures of half of a face and found that pandas can learn to discriminate between angry and happy expressions based on global information from the whole face. Young adult pandas (5–7 years old) learned to discriminate expressions more quickly than older individuals (8–16 years old), but no significant differences were found between females and males. These results suggest that young adult giant pandas are better at discriminating emotional expressions of humans. We showed for the first time that the giant panda, can discriminate the facial expressions of humans. Our results can also be valuable for the daily care and management of captive giant pandas.

Published in Scientific Reports

ISSN: 2045-2322 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Medicine; Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/srep/

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