Also known as the Lufeng panda, the primal panda (Ailurarctos lufengensis) is an ancestor of the giant panda bear. It evolved about 8 million years ago and is the oldest panda known of. Some believe it evolved from Indarctos. Others believe that Agriarctos gave rise to the panda line.

Existance of the primal panda was learned through dental specimens discovered by Chinese scientists in the 1980s. The primal panda was a carnivore described as having the figure of a fat fox and was only half the size of today's giant panda. It inhabited the tropical humid forest in the Lufeng area of Yunnan, China and became extinct in the late Miocene epoch. It gave rise to the Pygmy Giant Panda (Ailuropoda microta) 2 to 3 million years ago.