The Ailurarctos is an extinct genus of panda from the Late Miocene of Chine. It existed approximately 8 million years ago, making it one of the oldest known ursids!

Similar to modern giant pandas, the Ailurarctos had what is known as a false thumb. The false thumb is a carpal bone that has been enlarged and can function as an opposable thumb.

The existence of the Ailurarctos' false thumb allowed it to grip bamboo, which suggests that a panda's bamboo diet goes back as far as 6 or 7 million years ago!

The teeth of the Ailurarctos differ from modern pandas, suggesting mosaic evolution occurred during the last 2 million years. Mosaic evolution is the idea that evolutionary change takes place in some body parts without simultaneous changes in other parts.