2,200-year-old remains of sacrificed giant panda and tapir discovered near Chinese emperor’s tomb

About 2,200 years in the past, the themes of Chinese language emperor Wen sacrificed an enormous panda and a tapir and buried their stays close to the ruler’s tomb in Xi’an, China, new analysis finds.

The invention of the tapir skeleton stunned archaeologists, because it means that this animal — whose vary now not contains China — could have lived within the area throughout historic instances, the researchers stated. Whereas tapir fossils courting again over 100,000 years are identified from China, the animals have been regarded as extinct within the nation earlier than 2,200 years in the past.