Rare sight of wild pandas kissing captured on camera

LANZHOU－Using an infrared camera, a nature reserve in Gansu province has captured wild giant pandas kissing in the woods.

While going over recent information collected by the reserve's infrared cameras, the staff members at the Gansu Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve observed a pair of wild pandas meeting and kissing at midnight.

The romantic embrace was recorded in a video shot on May 14, in which the pandas were seen sitting under a tree looking into each other's eyes when one leaned over to give the other a kiss.

"It is difficult to tell their sexes from mere pictures, but we believe the pair is a couple, as pandas are usually solitary creatures," said He Liwen, director of the giant panda administration at the reserve. He added that their large sizes point to the fact that they are a couple rather than a mother and cub.

The mating season for wild pandas usually lasts from March to May every year, and most of the species' interactions are made by marking their habitats with scent, according to He.

When two adult pandas show up together without fighting, as seen in the video footage, they are likely to be a mating couple, He added.

Even though the duo found a secluded spot in the forest to enjoy their midnight tryst, the reserve's infrared cameras were still able to capture the sweet moment. More than 200 infrared cameras have been set up in the reserve to monitor the living conditions of the rare wildlife.

In October 2019, a dynamic spatial data monitoring system for the giant panda habitat was established in the reserve, with multiple video-monitoring spots. Staff can now observe the forest through real-time images transmitted from the monitoring spots to better protect the wildlife.

Located in the southern part of Gansu, the Baishuijiang reserve covers around 180,000 hectares and is home to many rare animal species, including giant pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys and takins.

In 2017, China established the Giant Panda pilot national park, which covers four areas in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, totaling more than 27,000 square kilometers, to coordinate preservation efforts.

The Baishuijiang reserve is one of the four main areas of the pilot national park. The fourth national giant panda census, released in 2015, showed that Gansu had 132 wild giant pandas, with 110 living in the Baishuijiang reserve.

"In recent years, with the steady progress of conservation, the environment of the reserve has been improving, and giant pandas have been increasingly photographed in the wild," He said, adding that wild panda couples can now be spotted several times a year.

Xinhua