The panda uses its thumbs to better grip its favourite bamboo food, while the mole's shovel-like claws are probably an adaptation to its dirt-filled tunnels.

BBC: Mystery of mole's second thumb solved

Other Asian species which depend on bamboo for food or for shelter include the red panda and the world's second smallest bat, the lesser bamboo bat (Tylonycteris pachypus), which is 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) long.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | UN alert on threat to wild bamboo

But bamboo is something of a tragic plant -- it only flower once in its lifetime -- and the Jiuzhai Valley bamboo flowered and died in the 1980s, depriving pandas of the food that makes up 99% of their diet.

BBC: The return of China��s wild panda