The functional purpose of the red panda having a left lung divided into two lobes, unlike the four in the right lung, is unknown.
The red panda’s left lung is divided into two lobes, similar to Procyonidae, Mustelidae, and Ursidae, but contrasting with the remaining carnivore families that have three lobes. Reduction of lobes seems to be associated with a broadening of the thorax, whose functional change is unknown.
The red panda’s right lung is divided into four lobes, as in all fissiped carnivores.
• Image | © Mathias Appel, Public Domain, (CC0 1.0)
• Sources | (Roberts & Gittleman, 1984)
