Researchers at the University of Bristol, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Jyväskylä used rare photographic evidence to examine the giant panda appearance in its natural environment for the first time. With help of the state-of-the-art image analysis, we were able to treat these images as if the pandas would have been seen by their predator surrogates using applied vision modelling techniques and also to explore their disruptive coloration. Comparative results bust the myth of giant pandas being overtly conspicuous in their natural habitat.
'The giant panda is cryptic' in Scientific Reports by Ossi Nokelainen, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel, Yonggang Nie, Fuwen Wei and Tim Caro