Researchers snap wild giant pandas in SW. China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-23 13:46
Chinese researchers have photographed wild giant pandas, an endangered animal
home to China, at a nature reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, local
forestry sources said Monday.
More than 20 pictures of wild giant pandas were obtained from eight automatic
infrared cameras set at a buffer area of the Longxi-Hongkou National Nature
Reserve in Sichuan, according to researchers with the reserve.
The shots were taken on May 13 at the buffer area with an altitude of 2,600
meters, where researchers had put pig bones and apples in front of the cameras
to attract wild animals.
"It is the first time for the province to get the pictures of wild giant
pandas by using such cameras, as the wild animal is not quite easily seen by
people," a researcher said.
The wild giant pandas sightings show that they gnawed the bones and apples
put by researchers and stayed about two hours at the area, according to the
researchers.
Stems of arrow bamboos eaten by the wild giant pandas, and their excrements
were also discovered, said the scientists. The samples of the excrements have
been sent to the animal research institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
for further studies, they said.
One of the world's most endangered species, wild giant pandas are estimated
at 1,590, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, according to China's State
Forestry Administration.
On April 28, China sent four-year-old Xiang Xiang back into the wild in
Wolong in Sichuan, which became the first giant panda raised in captivity that
has been released to its natural habitat in China.
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