When China gave the United States two giant pandas in 1972, in honor of President Richard Nixon’s historic diplomatic visit that year, we reciprocated with a pair of...musk oxen. Milton and Matilda arrived at the Beijing Zoo, one reportedly with a case of the sniffles and the other a nasty skin infection. Their long fur—which is what musk oxen are best known for, along with their odor—began to fall out. Meanwhile, back at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the pandas appeared only to grow cuter.
Perhaps the people of China got a raw deal. Or maybe they had discovered the perfect export. Giant pandas are highly addictive critters.
Neuroscientists speculate that their snub noses, generous cheeks and toddling gaits may excite circuitry in our brains normally related to interactions with human infants. Likewise, babies have supersized eyes, and pandas’ trademark black patches make their eyes appear larger by a factor of ten. (Part of a “facial mask” that likely evolved to repel predators, the eye patches seem to have the opposite effect on us.) Pandas are also one of the only animals to have a pseudo-thumb, a flexible wrist bone that allows them to manipulate objects in a cunning manner. They can stand on their hind legs, they like to frolic in the snow—the list goes on. They even somersault
