Giant panda mothers, cubs captured on camera in Chinese reserve

LANZHOU -- Infrared cameras have captured footage of four pairs of wild giant pandas, mothers and cubs, in a nature reserve in Northwest China's Gansu province.

Staff with the Gansu Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve recently found the videos while going over information collected by the reserve's cameras in the first three months of this year.

Judging from the footage, the four panda cubs, whose average age is believed to be between one and two years old, are in good condition, according to He Liwen with the reserve administration.

He noted that wild giant panda cubs are usually raised by their mothers and leave their mothers to live independently after the age of two.

The rare spotting of eight pandas in three months shows the species has seen an increasing population in the reserve, with a stable population structure, He added.

The Baishuijiang reserve, located in southern Gansu, has employed advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and real-time infrared cameras to monitor the movement of wild giant pandas and changes in their habitats as well as to crack down on illegal activities.

The fourth national giant panda census, released in 2015, showed that Gansu had 132 wild giant pandas, of which 110 lived in the Baishuijiang reserve.