Wild panda mother, cub spotted in southwest China

Photo shows giant panda mother and cub captured on March 5, 2022 by an infrared camera in Baoxing County, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Baoxing administration and protection station of the Giant Panda National Park/Handout via Xinhua)

Local forestry authorities in Baoxing County in Ya'an City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, have spotted a pair of wild giant pandas in the local giant panda national park.

Video footage recorded by an infrared camera captured the panda cub following its mother to a tree hole to rest on March 5. The little panda is believed to be around half a year old, said the staff of the local protection station.

Images of the two were previously captured in the wild at night on Jan. 12. This time, the pair was in the core protected area administered by Baoxing County under the Giant Panda National Park at an altitude between 2,500 to 3,800 meters.

The area boasts luxuriant arrow bamboo and abundant water, suitable for endangered wildlife. Since October 2021, the Baoxing area has five times captured wild panda mother and cub images and recorded 21 other wild species, including red pandas and white-eared pheasants.

The giant panda was first discovered in Baoxing County about a century ago when a French Catholic priest, who was also a zoologist and a botanist, came across a black and white fur, later found to belong to a species new to science.