Wild panda mother, cub captured on camera in SW China's Sichuan

Photo taken on Feb. 28, 2024 by an infrared camera shows a wild giant panda in the Dabaibao area of the Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve, a part of the Giant Panda National Park in southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Photo courtesy of the Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve of the Giant Panda National Park)

Staff members of the Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve, a part of the Giant Panda National Park in southwest China's Sichuan Province, found footage of a wild giant panda mother and her cub in the Dabaibao area of the national park for the first time on March 21.

Video footage recorded by an infrared camera in February 2024 captured the panda and her cub, both of whom were in good health. Staff members believe that the panda mother was the one previously captured by cameras in 2023.

This also marked the third consecutive year that wild giant pandas had been captured on camera in the Dabaibao area. It showed that the area, after undergoing habitat restoration and other effective protection measures, has become a suitable habitat for wild giant pandas, and that the population of the species has been increasing in the Tangjiahe reserve.

Since the Dabaibao area was included into the Giant Panda National Park in 2017, the Tangjiahe reserve has made efforts in habitat restoration and strengthened patrol and monitoring work in the area, while also encouraging local residents from surrounding neighborhoods to participate in the protection work.

After years of effort, the ecological environment in the area has greatly improved, and the infrared cameras installed here have captured footage of various rare wild animals, including giant pandas, Sichuan takins, black bears, and long-tailed gorals.