No wonder pandas evolved to know kung fu!

New information suggests that ancient people ate panda bears..

The study comes to us from Chinese scientists. The panda may be a beloved symbol of the nation, but the researchers claim that their study of the past shows ancient folks sure liked the taste of panda meat.

But… I am a little dubious of the study. In part, the AP reports:

Scientist Wei Guangbiao says prehistoric man ate pandas in an area that is now part of the city of Chongqing in southwest China.

Wei, head of the Institute of Three Gorges Paleoanthropology at a Chongqing museum, says many excavated panda fossils “showed that pandas were once slashed to death by man.”

The Chongqing Morning Post quoted him Friday as saying: “In primitive times, people wouldn’t kill animals that were useless to them” and therefore the pandas must have been used as food.

But he says pandas were much smaller then.

I assume that the study just doesn’t ASSUME since pandas were slashed they must have been food? Are there any other pieces of relevant information to support the theory?  I imagine someone with a scientific background will help me here.. I just don’t know if I can trust a study’s conclusion simply because of an assumption about why pandas were slashed to death by men..